It's not over yet
by Enchantm3nt
Summary: A Continuation of Ila and Shepard's story. Follows on from 'New to this' and 'Back again.' The Reapers are here! Will follow the events of ME3 fairly closely but it is AU and there will be changes. [On Hiatus! Will be back in May or June]
1. In the dark

The little boy was playing with his toy ships again, making them swoop down low and spin around in circles as he ran around. She had watched this boy playing in his garden every day for the last six months. He reminded her of her own childhood, wanting to see the stars and real spaceships. She had similar models in her room back on Mindoir, they hung from her ceiling and she went to sleep staring up at them every night.

She missed that bedroom from time to time and the innocence of childhood. So much had happened since then. But things weren't all bad, the Normandy had become her new home and she had met Ila of course. The Thendoran and her had spent their last month together travelling the stars some more, doing 'normal people' things before Shepard's trial had begun. They'd been to the cinema, played laser tag, gone hiking and ridden on a roller coaster, Ila hadn't liked that though, she'd wobbled off it before promptly throwing up in a bin. The memory made her chuckle. It had been six months since her trial, six months since she'd seen Ila or the Normandy. Her living quarters were fine, the bed was comfy and the food was nice. But it wasn't home. She understood why it was necessary to ground her like this. An entire Batarian system had been wiped out because of her, she was under house arrest to sate the Batarians but also to protect her from assassination attempts. She was lucky she'd only been grounded, so many people had turned up to her trial to testify for her; Anderson, Hackett, Kirrahe, Garrus, Tali, Wrex and of course Ila. Their support had meant the world to her and without it her punishment might have been more severe.

She felt so out of the loop here though, she had no idea what was going on outside of these walls. Ila had promised to do whatever she could to prepare the Council for the Reapers. Hopefully Liara and Hackett had found a complete version of the blueprint Ila recovered from a Collector too. They believed it was a weapon or device that could be used to destroy the Reapers, something they were desperately going to need. She rested her arm against the window, frustrated at it all. The little boy brought his ship around in a circle, a huge grin on his face.

The door swished open behind her, the Lieutenant James Vega stepped in and saluted her. "Commander." He said. He was a broad-shouldered, jar-head looking type. The sort she wouldn't normally associate with, they liked the Alliance because they got to shoot big guns, but James had supported her at her trial and had watched over her ever since.

"You're not supposed to call me that anymore, James." She reminded him.

"Not supposed to salute you either, we gotta go. The defence committee wants to see you." He said turning to leave quickly.

"Sounds important." She followed him out the doors.

There were a lot of people rushing around in the corridor outside, she caught up to James. "What's going on?"

"Couldn't say. Just told me they needed you." James said has he pushed his way through a group of people.

Anderson came around the corner and walked toward them, Shepard couldn't help but smile seeing him. "Anderson." She said as they shook hands.

"You look good. Perhaps a little soft around the edges." He said as they walked. She touched her belly, maybe she had lost some muscle. "How you holding up since being relieved from duty?" He asked.

"It's not so bad, once you get used to the hot food and soft beds." She mused. "What's going on? Why is everyone in such a hurry?"

"Admiral Hackett's mobilising the fleets. I'm guessing words made it to Alliance Command, something big's headed our way."

"The Reapers?" She said stepping up the stairs.

"We don't know, not for certain." Anderson said turning to face her.

"What else could it be?"

"If I knew that.."

"Have they been preparing? Did Ila convince the Council?"

"She did, I still don't know if it's enough though. You've seen what they're capable of, how they harvest us. You know more about them than anyone else."

"I'm a soldier not a politician though."

"Maybe, but we're all gunna need you."

They walked through a door and down another corridor. "Good luck in their Shepard." James said as they shook hands goodbye.

She heard a familiar voice greeting Anderson from behind her. _Kaidan_. He hadn't been at her trial, that had annoyed her at first but then she remembered how distrustful of her and Cerberus he had been, if he had been at the trial he would have needed to speak honestly. That could have done more harm than good. She walked over to him.

"Shepard." He said.

"Kaidan." She smiled. She hadn't seen him since their _conversation_ on Horizon.

"Major, how'd it go in there?" Anderson asked.

"Hard to tell, just waiting for orders now."

"Major?" My, my, he had moved up in the world.

"You hadn't heard?" Anderson said.

"Nobody tells me anything anymore." She said with a half-smile.

"Sorry Shepard, didn't mean to keep you out of the loop." Kaidan said.

"It's not like you found out the Reapers are coming and didn't tell me." She said sarcastically.

A woman approached them and asked them to follow. She left Kaidan and walked with Anderson into the Committee room. It was a large chamber, with the three members of the Alliance Council sat at a large bench at the far end of the room, a massive window overlooking Vancouver behind them. It was a beautiful sunny day, with a few fluffy clouds drifting by in the sky.

"Admiral Anderson, Shepard." The man in the centre greeted them.

"What's the situation?" She asked.

"We were hoping you would tell us." He said shakily. A woman passed her a datapad, she looked it up and down.

"The reports coming in are unlike anything we've ever seen before." The woman to his left said. "Whole colonies have gone dark, we've lost contact with everything beyond the Sol Relay."

"Whatever this is, its incomprehensibly powerful." The man in the middle spoke again.

She shook her head. "You brought me here to confirm what you already know.. The Reapers are here." Saying those words made her breath hitch.

"Then how do we stop them?"

"The only way we beat the Reapers is by working together, uniting the entire Galaxy against them."

"Hackett mentioned a blueprint? The full plans still haven't been found. You are grasping at straws Commander." The man on the right said.

"It's better than the alternative. The Reapers are stronger than us, more advanced, more intelligent, they don't feel fear and they will never pity us. They are here to harvest everyone, they will not stop until we are utterly wiped out. We either stand together or die alone."

"Admiral, we've lost contact with Lunar base." A woman warned them.

"The moon? They couldn't be that close already.." Anderson said in disbelief.

"Sir, UK headquarters has a visual."

A shaky image appeared on their screen, a soldier had his face in the camera, there was too much interference to hear what he was saying but the destruction behind him was clear, fire and smoke surrounded him. A loud siren blared through the video, rubble blasting up around him. They lost the signal. Other images appeared on the screen. A massive Reaper capital ship was firing its laser on a city. No, _on every city_. New York, Rio, London, Sydney..Fire and destruction everywhere. God, there were so many.

"Why haven't we heard from Admiral Hackett?" Anderson said.

"What do we do?" The man in the middle of the bench said desperately.

"We fight or we die." Shepard said.

"We should get to the Normandy." Anderson suggested.

Outside the sky began to rumble. Red lighting flicked through the clouds, then they saw it. The red laser of a Reaper cut through the air, heading straight for them. "MOVE!" She cried as she turned and ran herself. The laser hit the room, glass shattering, everything exploded around her, she ducked under the huge desk that had been flung forward, she rose to her feet but a second blast sent her smashing into a wall.

"Shepard.. Shepard!" Anderson was calling. She struggled back to her feet, he helped her up. The room was on fire, rubble and glass everywhere. "Here take this." He said handing her a gun. "We've got to get moving." He said running toward the shattered window. Anderson got hold of Kaidan on comms while Shepard searched bodies. More Reapers were landing outside. The giant cuttlefish like monsters were tearing Vancouver apart. She stood on the edge of the window, staring at the carnage. They were really here. After alll this time, everything they had done and now it was really happening. She shivered.

She followed Anderson along the ledge, they were heading for the Normandy. Everything was being blown to hell around them. She could count at least four Reapers around the bay area. Some of those Oculi attack drones were chasing some fighter jets through the sky above them too.

Husks were climbing a nearby wall so they shot them dead. She hated not having all of her gear on her. They were out of ammo quickly so had to punch them to death. The blare of the Reaper above her warned of the imminent laser. She ran back away from it, the blast blew out the windows of the nearby room. She walked in through the debris. She pried open a door, punching a husk that tried to grab her. She heard a noise from behind them, Anderson walked through the door while she stayed back to check it out. She crouched down in front of the vent. The little boy she had watched from her window was inside.

"Hey there." She said gently, he backed away from her. "It's okay. I'll look after you, why don't you come out of there?"

"No, you can't help me, nobody can." He cried.

"I disagree, there are a lot of brave men and women who will keep you safe. I saw you playing with those cruiser models. How would you like to fly in a real one?"

The boy looked at her shyly but nodded his head and climbed out of the vent.

"Shepard through here." Anderson shouted.

"Stay close kid." She said as she walked through the door.

They made their way under and over debris carefully. Anderson said they needed the Council to help them. She knew he was right of course, but leaving was not something she wanted to do. She had vowed never to run away again, but this was different, she was running to something, to get help.

She grabbed some more ammo and they headed back outside. The little boy clutched her leg as she walked. Another Reaper smashed into the ground in front of them and he froze in fear. "It's alright, they won't hurt you. I'm right here."

They carried on, an Alliance dreadnought was firing everything it had at the recently landed Reaper. The explosions just bounced off the damn things armour. The Reapers return fire was ripping the dreadnought in two. They were running along a platform when it finally exploded. The ground they were standing on collapsed sending them hurtling to the floor below. Shepard helped the kid up but his leg looked broken and he wailed in pain. She decided to carry him instead. "I've got you."

"He'll need a doctor, this way." Anderson said. Pieces of the dreadnought were falling into the bay, the Reaper just continued walking forward on its path of destruction. Anderson was trying to reach the Normandy but failing. They jumped down onto the ground, two soldiers were pinned down by enemies. Shepard put the kid down gently and shot at the Reaper ground forces. They were disgusting creatures, short, fat and bloated looking. Covered in growths and wires. Their eyes and mouths glowed blue and to top it all off they had guns. Shepard dived into cover and fired back at them. Her incinerate proved useful, burning their flesh.

They decided to head for the radio that would be in the downed gun ship just in front of them. That meant fighting their way through a lot of enemies though. "Stay with these nice men, okay kid? I'll be back shortly, I promise." The boy nodded, his eyes wide with fear.

Anderson and her shot their way through the stubby creatures and to the radio on the other side. They radioed for the Normandy to rescue them but they couldn't hear the reply. Shepard ran back to the two soldiers and the little boy. All they could do was wait.

That's when a Reaper destroyer had walked around the corner. Its four legs slamming down into the water of the bay. It was staring right at them. Its plate armour moved to the side revealing its canon. It began to glow red. Before Shepard could even think about running away a massive golden figure dived into it. The Reaper toppled over, they were a mix of limbs and bodies as Ila wrestled the Destroyer to the floor.

"My God." Anderson said beside her.

It fired its canon, the red-hot laser evaporated the water, steam rose around them. Ila pounded her fists down on it, keeping the laser facing the ground. She ripped off the frontal plates giving her better access to its canon. She let out a vicious war cry before plunging her arm straight through the glowing canon. She buried her arm deep, then pulled out and plunged it in again and again, she was ripping out Reaper parts from deep inside its shell, the Destroyer shuddered against her. The glowing light flickered out and Ila stepped off of it, wiping the sweat off her brow.

"Fuck! She just took down a Reaper!" One of the soldiers said still in shock.

Ila looked incredible, her golden armour glistened from the water still on her skin, her plating was thicker than she'd ever seen it, spiked and deadly. Although the spikes on her right arm had melted away a great deal from burying her arm inside the Reapers laser. Her blonde hair tied back in a braid, her markings glowing a brilliant white. Ila looked down at them and saluted, Shepard grinned up at her.

The Normandy appeared in the sky above them then. She signalled Ila to get on board. Some shuttles arrived to evacuate civilians. Shepard picked up the boy and carried him into one. "You were very brave." She said to him. "These nice people will look after you now. You'll get to see some really cool ships." She smiled at him.

The boy nodded. "Will you stop them?"

"I will." She promised.

She backed away from the shuttle and headed for the Normandy, Ila was already on board.

"I'm not coming with you." Anderson said.

"What? Of course you are.." Shepard replied.

"You saw those men back there. There's a million more like them. They need a leader."

"If you're staying so am I."

"You know we need help, you said it yourself, we need every species to work together. I'll do what I can here and you do what you do best out _there_." He'd already made up his mind, she couldn't blame him for wanting to stay.

"I'll come back for you all and I'll bring every damn fleet in the galaxy with me." She said adamantly.

"Good." He said. "Oh and consider yourself reinstated, _Commander_." He shouted, throwing her tags to her.

"Good luck." She said before the Normandy took off.

She watched the shuttles take off safely, the Capital ships choosing to focus on the heavy hitting ships instead of civilian shuttles. Vancouver was a mess, entire buildings were gone, fires burned everywhere she looked and the water below was a choppy mess littered with debris and bodies. The dead Reaper in the water did make her feel a little better though.

She turned to look at Ila. "You're such a show off." She joked.

"I thought my timing was perfect that time." She grinned.

"Indeed. It looked _very_ impressive."

"Why thank you. But seriously, it's good to see you again." She kissed her on the cheek.

"And you." She felt a lot better with the Thendoran at her side.

"I'm sorry about Earth too. I did what I could.."

"Ila, you just took out a Reaper. It's okay, really. We'll get help."

Shepard walked through the cargo hold, James and Kaidan were close by. "What's going on?" James demanded.

"We're leaving." She said.

"What!? What do you mean we've leaving?"

"We have to go to the Citadel, rally the Council."

"We can't just-"

She didn't have time for this. "You think I like this?" She cut him off. "I want to stay too, I _hate_ running! But we don't have a choice. We can't fight them alone. If you really don't like it you can get a shuttle from the Citadel." She said waving her finger in his face.

Joker spoke over the comm and patched through a message from Hackett to them. He wanted them to go to Mars, he had worked with Liara and they had a lead on the Prothean blueprint.

"Fill me in." She said to Ila as they travelled there. She needed to know exactly what had happened in the months she had spent under house arrest.

"I showed the Council everything I had on the Reapers. They actually believed me. I know they put extra defences in place around relays and colonies but they did it quietly, not wanting to cause a panic. I can't imagine it helped much though, the Reapers washed over all of Earths defences like a tsunami." She said glumly. "As for the blueprint I know very little, I've been going world to world warning people about the Reapers, making it personal, then the council grounded me on Earth for _fear mongering._" She said disgusted.

Typical Council behaviour, brushing everything under the rug, pretending it's not real. "It sounds like you did everything you could. What about your own people?"

"No sign of the Reapers yet. Things are looking good though." She gave her a knowing smile.

Shepard knew not to say too much, Ila still wanted the Thendoran army they had in their back pocket to stay a secret until the Reapers descended on Thendor. She nodded at her.

"Be ready to head down to Mars." She said to Kaidan and James as she put her own armour on and strapped her familiar widow to her back.


	2. Missed

"You still get travel sick?" Kaidan said.

"Yes."

"Seriously though?"

She glared at Kaidan, the shuttle was rocking about as they approached the surface of Mars. Hackett had ordered them to the Alliance outpost to find Liara. The Prothean archives here must have proven useful, hopefully in the form of a complete blueprint for this Prothean weapon. They jumped out of the shuttle and across the sandy ground.

"Sandstorms are the worst." Shepard moaned, looking up at the massive red cloud heading their way.

"Pretty sure all types of storm suck. Rainstorms, lightning storms, hailstorms..." James said.

"No way, those are the best. Sandstorms though, they just sting your eyes and weeks later you're still finding sand in your boots." Shepard said.

They jumped down a ledge, there was a dead soldier just lying on the ground. He'd been shot. That was not promising.

"How are you able to breathe out here legs?" James asked her as they moved forward. She liked the Lieutenant, he had been one of the few people with access to Shepard while she was under house arrest. He couldn't pass messages or anything but he often gave her little updates on Shep.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Legs?"

He blushed. "Yeah you err, have legs." She was surprised he didn't pick out any other outlandish features she had, her tail, her pointed ears, her white markings, her golden skin, her cats eyes, really any thing else. Her legs were probably her most 'human' feature.

"How observant of you, _muscles._" She mocked.

"Ha! But seriously? Why don't you need a helmet?"

"I can synthesise oxygen. It's very useful but tires me out quickly." She shrugged.

"Let's find a way inside, ASAP." Shepard said.

She had missed just following the human around. Her hips shook deliciously from side to side with every step. It had been so long since they had been intimate. Damn the Alliance for not allowing Shepard any visitors. The last six months had been so boring. She'd worked her ass off talking with the Council and Council races. She'd been to almost every world, speaking to politicians and the military. All her work had been for nothing though. The Reapers had obliterated Earth's defences. The death toll for Vancouver alone must be in the thousands.

She hoped her own people would fare better. _We will _her brother spoke in her mind. It was good to hear his voice. He had every right to be cocky though he had personally trained up his own group of hunters, 100 or so of Thendor's best warriors. Ila had put in other fail safe's and back up plans, as well as beacons around the Relay and Nehxan, Thendor's moon, to warn of approaching Reapers in their system.

The most remarkable thing her people had done was a planet wide neural link, everyone was linked up with one another. Not a full bond like bond mates share, but it meant she had eyes across her entire planet, as she saw whatever her people 'uploaded' to the link. At the moment she could see some of her brother's hunters; his Baleen, training on the purple plains, and Nehxis was playing with his children, Tahron and Ehlga, they were growing up so fast. She missed them all terribly but she had to stay away so they stood a better chance in this war.

"Holy shit. They're executing them!" James remarked.

Shepard fired her widow at the soldiers, blowing the brains out of one. The other's opened fire too. If Ila wasn't mistaken and she rarely was on these sorts of things, her observation skills were usually top-notch, these soldiers appeared to be Cerberus. That made her stomach flutter nervously. What the hell was the Illusive Man doing sending troops here?

"Those guys were Cerberus weren't they?" James asked.

"Looked like it." Shepard said pressing forward.

"Cerberus. What are they doing here on Mars?" Kaidan asked.

"Good question." She said.

"You don't know?"

"I'm not with them anymore Kaidan. If that's what you're asking."

"It wasn't. But you have to admit it's a bit _convenient._" Was he ever going to get over her involvement with Cerberus? He hadn't helped them with the Collectors, he hadn't supported Shepard at her trial. She was losing respect for the guy fast.

More Cerberus agents attacked them, everyone ducked into cover except Ila, instead, she charged in scaring the shit out of them. She always loved that part, as her enemies realised their bullets did sweet fuck all to her. Sometimes they ran, sometimes they hid, most of the time she didn't give them enough time to react before she plunged her claws into their soft skin. She grabbed one from cover and threw him into the air, Shepard sniped him perfectly.

Her arm ached dully at the movement, it was still sensitive to touch after she had buried it in the reapers canon. It had been an impulsive move. She had been searching for Shepard inside of the Alliance base but couldn't find her. When she finally did spot her she was about to die, a Reaper Destroyer standing over her priming its laser. Within seconds Ila was full height and on top of it, tackling it the floor. Only then did she stop to think about how she was going to kill it. Stabbing it and ripping out its insides seemed like the best course of action at the time and it had worked but she was lucky to still have her arm.

She stabbed her claws into another Cerberus agent, another rounded the corner and shot at her but his head exploded. Shepard uncloaked to her right and grinned at her. She had missed fighting with Shepard too. They made a damn good team.

They headed inside.

"Shepard, I need a straight answer." Kaidan said seriously.

Ila groaned, not this again.

"About what." Shepard said pressing the depressurization button of the airlock.

"Do you know anything about why Cerberus is here?"

"What makes you think I know what they're up to?"

"You worked for them, for god's sake. How am I not supposed to think that?"

"We joined forces to take down the Collector's. That's it." Shepard said firmly.

"There's more to it. They rebuilt you from the ground up. They gave you a ship, resources.."

"Kaidan I'm only going to say this once. I haven't spoken to the Illusive Man or Cerberus since I destroyed the Collector base. I don't know why they are here or what they want."

James stepped in. "Commander Shepard has been under constant surveillance since coming back to Earth. No way they've communicated."

"Sorry Shepard it's just that.." The airlock finally depressurized.

"You trusted me once Kaidan. So trust me now." Shepard said as the elevator carried them into a large hanger.

"I do. I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" loud banging interrupted him and they all ducked into cover. It appeared to be coming from the ventilation shaft.

Liara leaped out of the vent, two Cerberus agents followed, she hit them with a singularity then shot them, they fell to the floor and she finished them off with more bullets. They headed out of cover and toward her.

"Shepard! Thank the goddess you're alive."

"It's good to see you Liara." Shepard said hugging her.

"I'm sorry about Earth.."

"Yeah, it was hard to leave like that." Kaidan said.

"Have you found the blueprint?" Ila asked.

Liara smiled. "Yes, I believe so." Thank the Maker. They needed some good news.

"So its been sitting here all this time? How come we're only just finding it?" Shepard asked.

"There's a lot of data here but thanks to Ila I knew what to look for. The archive is on the other side of that tramway. Which Cerberus now controls."

"Then we need to hurry." Shepard said.

Ila tried to think of reasons for Cerberus to be here. Would they try to destroy the Reapers themselves? So humanity got the credit for it? Maybe he'd sell the plans or something. None of this made much sense. Shepard sent James back to the shuttle in case of trouble, everyone else got into cover as more enemies charged them.

They made their way toward the archives and ended up back outside briefly. The storm was very nearby now, the winds had picked up considerably and interfered with their comms. They found out that one of the newer research scientists, Dr. Eva, had been the one to give Cerberus access to the outpost. Kaidan, just like Liara had changed a lot since their days of chasing Saren. For one he was now a Major, but he also thought outside of the box a little more. Figuring out how to trick Cerberus into sending them a tram by using their earpieces. She still thought he was a whiny bitch but at least he was a useful whiny bitch.

It was a fire fight the entire way into the archives but they finally made it. The archives were beautiful, they looked just like the beacons Shepard had touched in the past. Kaidan searched the perimeter while Liara raced forward to download the data they needed.

"Shepard." A Hologram of the Illusive Man appeared, he was smoking his usual cigarettes.

"Illusive Man." Liara said spinning around and pointing her gun at him.

"Fascinating race, the Protheans, they left all this for us to discover but we squandered it. The Alliance has known about the archives for decades and what have they done with it?"

"What do you want?" Shepard asked.

"What I've always wanted. The data in these artefacts holds the key to solving the Reaper threat."

"Then join us. Work with us to destroy the Reapers."

"You always were short-sighted Shepard. I don't want to destroy them. Imagine how strong humanity would be if we controlled them."

"Earth is under siege and you're hatching a plan to control the Reapers? Seriously?" Shepard said.

"This isn't your fight any longer Shepard, you can't defeat the Reapers."

"Maybe, but I'm going to try."

"Stay out of my way Shepard, I won't warn you again."

"Duly noted."

"Shepard, the data, it's not here. It's being erased."

That's when Dr. Eva had legged it off with a local copy of the data they desperately needed. They had all chased after her. Synthesising oxygen meant Ila was slower than normal when sprinting outside, she struggled to keep up.

"James, Joker! Anybody!" Shepard cried desperately as Eva jumped into a Cerberus shuttle, about to escape.

"I've got this!" James cried as he slammed his own shuttle into the Cerberus one. They all hit the floor as the shuttle crashed into the roof, just missing them. _Fuck_, that was close. Shepard waved James down, signalling for him to land.

"We need to get the data." Liara said as Kaidan helped her to her feet again. Ila's head was spinning, she needed more oxygen than she was able to produce. Three loud bangs rang out across the roof and Dr Eva stepped out of the downed shuttle. She wasn't human at all. She was a synthetic. Her body was burnt and crispy but she remained functional. She ran toward Kaidan. He fired his gun but it was no good. Eva grabbed him around the neck.

"Kaidan!" Shepard screamed as she ran toward them drawing her gun.

"Orders?" The synthetic asked.

_Fuck this_. Ila broke off one of her claws, pain flaring up her arm, she ignored it and tossed it at the synthetics head. Her claw disappeared into its skull, Kaidan fell to the floor, gasping for air and the synthetic collapsed in a heap next to him.

Shepard looked at her, relief flooding her face. Liara helped Kaidan back to his feet.

"Thanks, for saving my life." He said to Ila.

"That's what having someone's back looks like." She said icily before heading back to the Normandy.


	3. Hard call

_Shepard!_ Ashley cried as she stumbled forward through the trees. Her body was little more than ash and smoke, she lifted her arm toward her. Shepard raced over to her but Ashley began to crumble, her smoky body drifting away on the wind before Shepard could save her. _Run Adi! Run!_ Her mother's voice cried. This time she ran to her instead of away. A massive Reaper was standing over her, priming its laser. Her mother was on her knees, crying tears of blood, cradling her father's lifeless form. "Mother!" Shepard screamed, every step she took was slow, she couldn't reach them. The Reaper fired its laser. "NO!"

She bolted upright. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

Ila rested her hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. It was just a nightmare."

She nodded at her and stood up. She only had nightmares when she was particularly stressed about something. This one seemed to be because she felt helpless. The Council had been their usual useless selfish selves. The sad truth was that while Earth burned they could secure their own borders. They still weren't convinced the blueprint was the solution they all needed. But what other option did they have?

There was a knock at her door, she got up and found Liara waiting for her. "I've been forwarding the Turian councilor information on the Prothean device. It can't be built without Council support, but he's not budging until their Primarch is safe."

The Primarch was the Turian leader, they needed him for a war summit. She was hoping she would be able to bypass the Council and get the military on board instead.

"I know." She said leaning against the railing.

"Are you alright?"

"I didn't get much sleep." She said rubbing her eyes.

"Oh. OH. Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you and Ila.." Liara said shuffling uncomfortably.

"You didn't." She chuckled. "I had a nightmare."

"You're under a lot of stress at the moment, it can't be easy."

"I just wish we could do more."

"You're doing everything you can Shepard. This summit will help."

The door swished open. "Commander Shepard? I'm Specialist-Oh" A woman said, realising she wasn't alone. She was cute, her brown hair sat on top of her shoulders and matched her eyes and skin. She had a posh little English accent. "I beg your pardon. I thought you were alone."

"I was just leaving." Liara said heading for the elevator.

"Commander Shepard?" She said saluting "I'm Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor, with Alliance R&D" Well that was a mouthful. "I was part of the team retrofitting the Normandy after you turned it over to the Alliance. There weren't many of us aboard when the Reapers hit.."

"Take it easy, Specialist Traynor. You're doing fine. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you. I worked in a lab. I never thought I'd be serving on a ship." She said.

She nodded for her to enter her quarters. Ila was brushing the tangles from her hair. "Ila this is Specialist Traynor, Traynor this is Ila."

Ila looked her up and down and smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"It's an honour to meet you. I've been fascinated by your ability to communicate with other members of your species since you first arrived on the Citadel." She said quickly.

"Ha, you realise it's not just members of my species I can do that with right? I can bond with anybody and have a neural link with them." She said looking at Shepard warmly. They hadn't talked much about bonding. Shepard didn't want to ask, Thendoran's generally only every had one bond mate. Ila had lost Vain a year ago. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to bond with anyone again.

"I had no idea it was cross-species, that's remarkable. I don't suppose I could ask you more about it some time? If we could figure out how it works it could solve a lot of issues with QEC's."

"Traynor, why don't you walk me through these retrofits?" Shepard cut in. She knew Ila wasn't a fan of such scrutiny. Although the Thendoran seemed more amused than anything.

"Oh of course Commander, sorry."

She explained some of the changes, the Normandy had been through the works these past few months. It was still her old ship though, it was still home.

"Specialist Traynor has been very useful during the retrofitting Shepard, I would prefer that she remain." EDI commented.

"Noted EDI." She said back.

"Wait, I thought EDI was a VI?" Traynor said confused.

"Nope, she's and AI, fully self-aware."

"Ugh! I knew Joker was lying! I apologise EDI.. for all the times I said how..delicious your voice sounded." She said blushing.

Shepard smirked at Ila who was holding in a giggle from the sofa. Traynor left shortly after, informing her that Hackett wanted an update.

"What do you think?" Shepard asked Ila when they were alone again.

"She's adorable." Ila said smiling.

"Agreed. What about the rest of the crew?"

"James is cool, bit of a hot-head but he means well." She shrugged.

"That move with the shuttle was reckless. He nearly killed us all." Shepard said slipping on her shoes.

"Yeah, want me to talk to him?"

"Alright. Are you and Kaidan going to get along okay? You burned him pretty hard earlier."

"It was no less than he deserved. I need to know he has your back 100% otherwise he might as well be on some other ship." She said stretching her arms.

"I agree. He'll come around." At least she hoped he would.

"It's nice having Liara back though." Ila smiled.

"It really is."

Hackett liked her plan, bypassing the Council was definitely the best thing to do. They just needed to stay in the fight long enough for this blueprint to get built, they were calling it the Crucible. There was a piece of the blueprint missing though, the catalyst. So she had Liara scouring every Prothean database they had looking for clues. She had brought all of her Shadow Broker assets onto the Normandy, using it as her own hub which was handy, but still a bit strange to see.

She checked in on Joker before heading down to the cargo hold. He was holding up okay. He always put on a brave face, she'd told him to head for Palaven. They needed to rescue this Primarch ASAP.

"I know what it's like to lose people to the Collector's." Ila said as she swung at James. They were sparring in the cargo hold. "I was reckless afterward too. But we can't afford to be reckless now. There's too much at stake." Ila was actually reasoning with him, she really had learnt a lot about diplomacy over the years.

"But it was my call, the data or the colonists. I chose the data." He said pressing her hard. Ila moved gracefully back, away from his hits, she was definitely going easy on him.

"And I chose to stop the ship instead of protecting my family. It's a shitty situation to be in. I know I made the right call though. And you did too. It was for the greater good." Her markings flared as she dodged his punch. For so long Ila had blamed herself for Vain and Adrian's deaths, it was good to see her finally accepting it all.

"I didn't even need it though, you were all out there destroying the damn Collector home world!" James yelled. That had to hurt, he had no way of knowing though.

"Nobody can see the future James. You have to make decisions in the moment, make the hard calls, sometimes that means people die. You can't blame yourself." Ila said punching him hard in the face. "You can't let yourself get distracted either." She said smirking.

"Hard not to be" He said wiping his lip. "You're lit up like a bloody disco ball."

"Get used to it Vega, you're stuck with me." She giggled.

"Could be worse." He said winking.

"Vega, are you flirting with my girlfriend?" Shepard said folding her arms.

"Me? Flirting? No way Lola." He said sheepishly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Lola?"

"Yeah, you kinda look like a Lola to me." He shrugged.

"Hmm. Alright, I'll let you off cos I think you're cute." She said smiling. That made him blush. "Gear up, we're nearly at Palaven." Then to Ila she said. "Thanks for doing that."

"No problem. Figured he needed to clear his head. I guess all that diplomatic bullshit of yours rubbed off on me a bit." She stuck her tongue out.

"I guess we'll need to rub up against one another more often then." She said winking.

* * *

Watching Palaven burning from its moon, Menae, had been a horrible experience. Shepard had hoped that other planets might be faring a little better against the Reapers. Evidently not though. It had taken them most of the day to reach the new Primarch on the moon. Garrus had joined their squad to help track down Primarch Victus. They had battled their way through endless husks and cannibals, there were harvesters, brutes and marauders too. With each new world the Reapers took, more mutated forces joined their army. Shepard could see it destroying morale slowly, how difficult it must be for soldiers having to fight their turned brothers and sisters. And this was just the first week of the Reaper invasion. She couldn't even fathom what horrors awaited them.

That's why the summit would prove vital, she had the Primarch on board the Normandy now, as well as Garrus. It was good to have him at her side, she trusted him the most out of anyone, not including Ila. He had been advising on the moon; the closest thing the Turians had to a Reaper expert. He deserved the recognition and respect he was getting.

Ila was Shepard's Reaper expert, despite her skill at killing the smaller Destroyers, Ila was just as helpless as everyone else against the larger vessels, sure she could grow and try to fight it, but she would never be able to sustain that sort of size long enough to kill one of them. They had watched one Reaper obliterate an entire platoon. Shepard could tell Ila was annoyed at herself for not intervening. But there was nothing any of them could do. They just needed to focus on staying alive and building the Crucible. That's why they were heading to Eden Prime. Liara's Broker agents had uncovered new Prothean Ruins on the planet. They were going to explore the dig site in hopes that something about the Catalyst would be buried within.

Shepard decided to take Kaidan and Liara with her. Telling Ila to rest up instead, she was exhausted from fighting the big brutes on Menae. She was tempted to take EDI out to test her new body, she had reprogrammed Dr. Eva's new body to suit her needs. Shepard was still in shock at that revelation though. It was just too weird to see EDI walking around the ship; walking around _herself._ She shook her head.

Cortez landed their shuttle, they stepped out and a familiar Drell approached them, Feron. Liara greeted him warmly.

"The dig site is this way. You won't believe what we've uncovered Liara."

"What is it?" She asked.

He smiled at her and motioned her forward.

It was good being back on Eden Prime, this colony had been through so much. Shepard also had fond memories of her vacation here with Ila, sleeping under the stars together had been incredible. It was a beautiful planet.

"At first we thought it was another beacon. But the energy signatures were different. And well.."

"That's not possible!" Liara gasped.

There was a strange-looking pod sat in the middle of the dig site. Shepard craned her neck, it looked like one of the pods she had seen on Ilos.."Is that what I think it is?"

"It's a real life Prothean Shepard!" Liara said.

"No way? How is that possible?" Kaidan asked.

"The power lasted all this time, its the only one left online." Feron explained.

"By the goddess. He's been in stasis for 50,000 years! Think of what we could learn from him." Liara was practically buzzing with suppressed excitement.

"Can we get him out?" Shepard asked as they approached the pod. A living Prothean could be invaluable to their cause, maybe he'd know about the Catalyst and be their big break. They really needed some good luck.

"We need to be careful. There must be a unlock code to turn off the stasis then a code to open the pod. If we just open it he could die."

"We found some shards too. It's why we called you out here Commander, with the cipher in your head you might be able to understand them."

"Alright, lead on."

They had set up a make shift lab as well as other facilities in the surrounding area. There was only a staff of three people here, including Feron. Shepard approached the first shard.

"Here we go again." She sighed. She hated doing this. She touched the shard. Images overloaded her mind, Reapers, soldiers fighting them, their cities were burning, entire planets harvested, the Reapers just walked through their defences. A Prothean in red armour fired his weapon, an impressive looking particle gun. The Prothean himself looked like the Collectors, with a large head and four eyes. They looked quite bug like. Indoctrinated soldiers attacked them, their base overrun. They sealed the bulkhead doors, exhausted from the endless fighting. She could feel the emotion, like it was her own experience. The desperation, the loss; they'd all but given up. They had nothing left. The one in red armour opened a stasis pod, giving her the code she needed, but the shard continued showing her the memory. There was a dead Prothean inside the pod, little more than a bloody mess. Grief poured through her, she was trembling at the rawness of it all. Tears fell down her cheeks. An alarm blared and the Prothean ran to defend the other end of the base. The memory ended and she stepped away from the shard.

"Shepard, are you okay?" Liara said.

"Yeah, yeah, that was just.." She took a deep breath. "I can replicate the code, open the pod."

"What else did you see?"

"It was the end of the war. The extinction of the Protheans." She shook her head and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Come on."

The next shard revealed the rest of the memory. The remaining Protheans had retreated into the stasis pods, hoping to hide from the Reapers. She got the code she needed to stop stasis. They headed back outside, despite the destruction Eden Prime had witnessed 50,000 years ago the planet was beautiful and full of life. If they failed this war, if they lost, at least there would still be beauty like this left for other races to find. But she wouldn't let that happen. They would stop the Reapers, end the cycle, once and for all.

There was a rumble in the sky above them, it was too cloudy to see what it was though. "We expecting anyone?"

"No, this is a secured dig site." Feron said.

She heard the gun fire before she saw the bullets "Hit the dirt!" She cried as she dived behind a crate. A gunship was firing down at them, tearing the labs apart. "Who the hell are they!?"

"I didn't get a good look! We have to free the Prothean before they destroy the pod!" Liara shouted.

"Alright, Liara, Feron take the right, stay in cover. Kaidan go left, be careful. I'll cloak and get a better look."

They moved into positions, Shepard climbed onto the roof, the gunship was big, well armoured. It looked Batarian. That made her feel sick.

"Commander Shepard. We know you're here" A voice rasped over the speakers. Definitely a Batarian's voice. The gunship moved over the stasis pod. "Show yourself or we destroy the dig site." _Damn it_. She tried to reach Joker but their comms were being jammed. She could see Kaidan below her, ready to charge in if necessary, he shook his head at her. She knew what he'd say, never give in to enemy demands, but that Prothean was too important. She uncloaked.

"Ah there you are." The gunship moved around and a Batarian appeared in the doorway of the ship. She wasn't sure if she knew him or not, she had to admit they all looked the same."The first human Spectre and saviour of the galaxy." He spat. "You are revered by so many, the vids make you sound like a war hero. But you're not. You're just a normal person. You make mistakes and bleed like anyone else!"

"I never claimed to be a hero." She said back.

"I always thought you were, I was there, on Elysium, just another tourist like you. But you saved everyone, kept _me_ safe, a Batarian child, even after my brother's and sisters slaughtered your parents. I thought you were the bravest and strongest person in the galaxy. I admired you, hell, I worshipped you. I wanted to be just like you, wanted to be the first Batarian Spectre. Wouldn't that be something?" He laughed. She recalled a child Batarian on Elysium.. if she could only remember his name. She had given him a toy of the exact gunship in the sky now, that probably wasn't a good sign.

"You still could be." She said. She knew where this was going. This was an assassination attempt, something the Alliance had protected her from.

"HA! There aren't enough Batarians left for that to be an achievement any more. They're all dead!"

"Not all of them. You're not out of this fight yet." She argued.

"_Please._" He scoffed. "Don't lie to me. We both know there won't be a recovery for my people. But none of that matters. I don't care about my species, or the Reapers." He smiled. "I'm already dead inside." She moved her hands slowly to her pistols, this Batarian was unstable. "My daughter was on Aratoht. She died because _you_ failed to save her!"

"I tried to warn the colony, there wasn't time..."

"I don't want your excuses or your apologies." He jumped down from the ship. That made her frown, he was vulnerable on the ground, open to attack..Why would he put himself in such a place?

"What do you want then?" She said stepping to the edge of the roof.

"I want you to suffer as I have." He signalled. Five Batarians appeared and pulled their guns on Kaidan, Liara and Feron. _Shit, _where had they come from? "Its a shame you didn't bring Ila with you, I would have _loved_ to bleed her, slowly, in front of you." He smiled sadistically. Her blood began to boil. She clenched her fists at her side and took a deep breath. She needed to be cautious.

"You don't have to do this."

"Go ahead, try to convince me. Logic only works on sane people Shepard, don't you know that?" He laughed manically.

Her heart was beating in her chest, Kaidan, Liara and Feron were on their knees to her left and right. "What was your daughter's name?" She tried.

"Ooohh! The sympathy card. Very nice. I'm impressed Shepard. But my heart was cut out the day she died. Hunger for vengeance is the only emotion I have left. So who shall I kill?"

"Would she want you to do this? Murder people in cold blood?"

"HAHA. She's dead she doesn't _want_ for anything." He said walking toward Liara and Feron. "Perhaps this Drell? You don't know him very well after all." He lifted Feron's chin and smelt him. "Ah, he reeks of fear. Clearly he thinks he's the obvious choice." He moved over to Kaidan. "What about this one? He didn't defend you at your trial. No doubt he still doesn't trust you for working for Cerberus."

"Fuck you." Kaidan sneered.

"With an attitude like that I'm surprised she allowed you back on the Normandy." He chuckled. "Time to pick Shepard." He grinned. Her mind was racing, she could kill him without much trouble, but there were three Batarians to her right, standing over Liara and Feron and two to her left over Kaidan and the gunship was still hovering above. "You know as soon as you lift your gun the gunship bombs the dig site. I promise, pick one to die and I'll leave. Cross me and you all die. Oh and don't think you'll get any backup from the other agents at this facility, they're taking a little nap." _Damnit._

"Shepard. Choose me. It's the right thing to do." Feron said sadly.

"No, it should be me, Feron you sacrificed yourself to save me, I can't let you do it again." Liara said.

"Pick me Shepard. You saved me on Virmire, but I didn't have your back on Horizon or at the trial. Let me do this for you now."

She refused to believe there wasn't a way out of this. She pictured how a fight would go. Kaidan would swing his leg around, grabbing the Batarian's gun as he fell, with it he could shoot the second, then finish off the first. Meanwhile Liara could use a singularity on the three that had them on their knees while Feron killed them. Shepard could take out the leader, but that gun ship would still destroy the stasis pod. She was pacing, unsure what to do.

"Tick tock Commander." The Batarian said. There was one card she hadn't played yet. Fighting fire with fire.

"You know all about me. You know all my achievements. Everything I've done. But there's one thing you don't know."

"And what's that?" He mused.

"Why." She jumped down to the ground and walked toward him. He nodded at his men to hold their fire, she gave Kaidan a subtle nod. "The vids paint me as heroic and paragon and _good_." She snorted.

He laughed. "That's because you are, Commander."

"No. Like you said. I'm normal, I make mistakes and I bleed. Nobody is completely good. Everyone is a shade of grey." She laughed. "I unleashed the Rachni on the galaxy because I could. I saved the Council so they were in my pocket, so I could get away with whatever I wanted. And it worked, look at all the things I got away with." She smiled menacingly.

"You're a terrible liar." He said.

"I worked with Cerberus to further humanities dominance in the galaxy. I'm still working for the Illusive Man now, together we will control the Reapers." She turned to Kaidan. "Sorry, I can't trust you Alliance types." She shot him just above the heart. Liara screamed as Kaidan fell to the floor. The Batarian backed away from her, his mouth agape.

"So you see, your little _game_ won't work on me. I'm heartless just like you. Batarians killed my parents, my childhood was ripped away from me. I vowed to never be weak or helpless again. _Power_ drives me, nothing else matters. And you're standing in my way _Torlak." _Finally she remembered his name.

"You- you remembered my name."

"I gave you a toy model of _that_ gunship." She said pointing. "You told me you wanted to help people, just as I had. Nobody is completely good but nobody is completely bad either. That little boy is still alive, the one who wanted to help."

"N-no. He's dead. Just like my daughter.." His hands were shaking.

"If she was anything like you, she'd want to help, wouldn't she? What was her name?"

"Her name." He sobbed. "Her name was Adriana." He said sinking to his knees. She walked toward him and crouched in front of him.

"You can help. The Reapers killed her, not me. Take your anger out on them!"

"What can I do?" He scoffed. "I am nothing. I tried to be a soldier but failed miserably, I can't even shoot a gun." He said dropping his pistol to the floor.

"Help the people then, refugee camps, hospitals they need all the help they can get. Come on, get up." She pulled him to his feet.

He signalled his men to stand down and they headed back to their gunship. "Thank you, Commander. Did you really kill the Major?"

She smiled. "Kaidan?"

"Ughh." He said raising his arm.

"Non lethal shot." She shrugged.

"Hmm, I hadn't seen you do that before. It takes a lot to surprise me nowadays." He said as he climbed in the gun ship.

She watched it leave before running to Kaidan. "You okay?" She helped him to sit up.

"Yeah" He croaked. Despite her precision shot he had still lost a lot of blood.

"Feron, can you?"

"Yeah, sure. And Commander, that was.."

"I know." She said exhaling deeply. Feron helped Kaidan up and back to the shuttle.

"That was close." Liara said.

"Yeah, I haven't had to shoot a hostage before." Shepard said running a hand through her hair, it was wet with sweat.

"Hopefully you won't have to ever again." She said squeezing her shoulder.

"Shall we release our friend then?"

"He has waited 50,000 years." Liara laughed.


	4. Close

"Your people showed great potential, what happened?" Javik said.

He was not what any of them had expected a Prothean to be like. Ila had a better understanding of his people than most, she had seen old Collector memories from the previous cycle, she knew the horrors they had faced, the tragedy of their cycle's war against the Reapers. Javik was a soldier, the embodiment of vengeance. He knew nothing of the Crucible or catalyst. Ila could tell Shepard and Liara had been disappointed by that revelation. They'd risked their lives on Eden Prime securing the stasis pod. Kaidan was still in the medbay recovering. He had taken a bullet for Shepard. Sort of. It was one of the more risky 'playbook' scenarios. Shooting your own team member to show the enemy what you're capable of. But Shepard had pulled it off flawlessly. But all of that had only rewarded them with another soldier for the fight, at least he was a strong warrior.

She stuttered for a moment before finding her voice. "Sorry?" She folded her arms. Shepard had warned her he could be _blunt_.

"My kind admired you, from a biological stand point. We saw great potential in you. Your sensory ability, your neural link, your adaptations, all of it impressive." He said facing her. She had heard similar things from Vigil on Ilos. "But you were still too young, so we left you alone. We thought you and the Asari would lead the next cycle against the Reapers. But your people have not advanced at all. I do not understand it."

Mordin had explained this to her once, she quoted him. "All scientific advancement is due to intelligence overcoming limitations. Can't carry a load, so invent wheel. Can't catch food, so invent spear. Without limitations there's no advancement. My people can adapt to any situation. We never needed anything else." She shrugged. He frowned at her. "Anyway, we're docked at the Citadel. I'll give you a tour.."

Shepard had people to speak to; Miranda, Thane, Bailey and probably many more. She was a busy woman. Ila had shown Javik around the Presidium and wards before the Council had borrowed him for talks. No doubt he was going through the same tiresome process she had endured when she first arrived here. The Prothean was going to _love_ that. She stood on the Presidium. The Citadel was so calm and peaceful. The war hadn't touched them here yet. That was both good and bad. The Citadel was safe, it represented hope, a place of refuge for so many now. At the same time, here in the middle of nowhere it was easy to forget about the war raging on everywhere else. People could get complacent here, the Citadel could fall just as easily as a planet or city. They would need to fight to keep it safe.

* * *

"Do you want to tell them? Shepard asked her, referring to her brother's army.

"No. Focus on the Turian-Krogan Alliance, for now." They needed that Alliance, if she gave the Turians hope that her own people could provide support instead then the alliance would fall apart.

"Alright. I'll let you know how the meeting goes." Shepard said as she disappeared down the elevator.

The summit was vital to their chances of success, Maker knows they have enough enemies in the galaxy, they sorely needed a few allies. Cerberus had given Shepard grief at Grissom Academy. She had successfully evacuated the biotic students of course but it hadn't been easy. There was also an indoctrinated Hanar on the Citadel causing trouble. How naïve Ila had been, she thought war would make everyone pull together but a lot of factions were doing the opposite. Despite that, work had begun on the Crucible at last. They still didn't know what it did or how it worked but hopefully they'd figure that out instead of running out of time like the Protheans had.

She decided to pay Kaidan a visit. She needed to clear the air with him, she could hardly be annoyed at him after everything on Eden Prime.

"Hey." He said as she entered his room. He was staring out of the window but turned as she walked in.

"How are you?" She asked, moving to lean on his sofa.

"Yeah, good thanks. You?"

"I'm alright." She cleared her throat. "I wanted to thank you. For having Shepard's back on Eden Prime..."

He chuckled. "I didn't do much."

"You knew that bullet was coming though, and took it like a champ." She smiled.

He rubbed his neck. "What you said to me on Mars, it really stuck, you know?"

She nodded. "How do you think this summit will go then?"

"They talking now? I can't imagine it going very well, Wrex is a hot head, Victus doesn't play by the book and the Dalatrass? She only cares about Salarian interests."

"Mmm. I've seen Shepard pull off some crazy shit though, if anyone can do this thing, it's her."

"You don't have to tell me, what she did on Eden Prime with Torlak was incredible. And terrifying." He laughed.

"Man, you haven't heard her shout. Now that's scary. She screamed at the Quarians during Tali's trial last year. They reeled back away from her, like she'd physically struck them."

"I wish I could have been there to see it." He looked at her miserably.

"She never hated you." Ila said. "For not joining her, none of us trusted Cerberus. But it hurt that you didn't trust _her_."

He looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I know. It was just so strange seeing her again..How did you take it? Learning that she was alive again? After we told you on Thendor I didn't expect to ever see you again."

"I was in shock. Shock from the Collector attack and deaths of my family, but I remember feeling so relieved that she was alive. I wouldn't have survived the grief of it all if it weren't for her."

"I'm glad you have each other. Having people you care about at times like this is so important."

"You heard much from your family?"

"Not for a while now. I'm a bit worried. Just gotta hope they're okay. What about yours? Garrus said you were banned from Thendor?"

She wanted to tell him, sick of hiding the truth. She was about to speak when Shepard rushed in. "Ila, gear up. Kaidan rest some more."

"Where are we heading?"

* * *

"This is the Salarian homeworld we're heading to. They aren't used to Krogan here, so let's keep it simple. We land, get the females and leave before anyone changes their mind." Shepard said. The last thing she needed was a diplomatic incident between the Krogan and Salarians. She had already pissed off the Dalatrass by taking Wrex here.

"I still don't trust a word they say." Wrex moaned from his seat in the shuttle.

"Just take it easy okay?"

"These females are the best and probably last hope for my people Shepard!"

"We'll bring them back, Wrex. Don't worry." Liara intervened.

"I appreciate that Liara, I wouldn't want anyone else along for the ride." He said to her.

Garrus started coughing from the corner.

"Ahem" Ila added.

"I suppose I can make room for you guys too." Wrex said laughing to himself.

"Figured you'd gone soft sitting on your throne, forgot how to hold a gun." Garrus quipped.

They approached the base and Cortez lowered the shuttle, now that she knew the pilot a little better she liked him. He was a hard worker and a damn good pilot. "Commander Salarian ground control says we don't have clearance to land." Cortez warned.

"Tell them the Dalatrass authorised this herself." Shepard said.

"I knew they'd never keep their word! Let's see them try to stop a Krogan airdrop." He said as he opened the shuttle doors.

"WREX!"

He jumped down onto the ground below. Salarians rushed forward, lasers pointed at Wrex. Shepard sighed and jumped down. Things were not off to a good start. Ila jumped down next to her and smiled. This was just typical Wrex behaviour.

Another Salarian came running in "Stand down! Hold your fire! Commander Shepard, restrain your colleague. We only found out about the transfer moments ago."

"Wrex.."

He huffed before lowering his gun. "Anything goes wrong and all bets are off."

The Salarian leader Padok Wiks thanked Shepard for her understanding as they entered the base. The top floor of the base looked pretty normal, except for the Yahg being transported across the room.

"I'd hoped to never seen one of _those_ again." Liara said.

"As you can see this base contains sensitive information."

"Like stolen Krogan females?" Shepard mused.

"The females were in poor health when we found them on Tuchunka. They were brought here to stabilise their condition."

"I'd like to see them." She couldn't believe Maelon's 'research' had actually paid off. He was still a sick and twisted man for going to such extremes, but at least something good had come from it all.

"Of course, I'll need to clear you for the lower levels. Give me a few moments and meet me by the elevator."

"Remember that forest hike we took here?" Ila said giggling.

"Yes. I remember." She said as she glared at Ila.

"I'm sensing a story?" Garrus said.

"Well, Shepard doesn't like bugs..so there was this _incident_ with a, what are they called?"

"It was a giant fucking alien spider Ila. It was the size of my head!" The memory made her shiver.

"You're exaggerating! Anyway we climbed through a cave and couldn't see shit, Shepard starts complaining that I'm tickling her. When she realised it wasn't me.." She started laughing. "She screamed and ran out the cave like a little girl. The thing was still on her head as she ran around outside trying to get it off."

"Ha! Shepard, I had no idea you were scared of spiders."

"You would have been too Garrus, if you saw the size of it."

She checked on Wrex, he wasn't happy that he was under guard but at least he trusted Shepard enough to get the females out of here safely. She bumped into Major Kirrahe too, it was good to see him again, when they visited Sur'Kesh on holiday she had warned him to prepare for the Reapers, he promised her his support taking back Earth which was very appreciated.

Padok got her the access they needed so they entered the elevator and headed down.

"Shepard excellent timing. Good to have you here." An old friend said.

"Mordin!" She said shaking his hand. She had fond memories of the Salarian; his singing and stories had really surprised her, she had more awkward memories with him too, like the time he had asked Shepard to draw a diagram of Thendoran anatomy for him. He was curious about their reproduction process.

"Eyesight still sharp. Surprise understandable. Hadn't expected to return to work." He said.

"You're back with STG?" Garrus asked.

"Special consultant. Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."

Mordin told them he was the one who leaked information about the females to Wrex, she smiled at that, he was always so conflicted about the genophage. But now he was here, helping to cure it. He explained that only one female had survived and that her immune system was weak, a side effect of Maelon's cure. But from her tissue they could cure the genophage.

They approached the Krogan, she was in a cage for her own protection. "Are you here to kill me?" She asked.

"Urdnot Wrex and I are here to take you home." She said sadly. She must have been through hell.

"Why? What am I to you?"

"The Krogan's last hope." She said. Suddenly alarms started blaring. "What is it? What's going on?"

Mordin ran over to a console to check. "Not sure, communications jammed. Need to get female out of here. Now Shepard."

"I don't think so Professor." A Salarian said raising his gun at Mordin.

"Chadick, what is the meaning of this?" Mordin said.

"We can't let you cure the genophage." He was about to pull the trigger, Shepard tackled Mordin to the floor. Ila stabbed her claws into the traitorous Salarian's chest.

"Thank you Shepard. Cannot believe Chadick would do this." He said as he brushed himself off.

"Are we going to be facing more resistance?" Garrus asked.

"Possible. Must move quickly."

"Shepard!" Wrex said over her omnitool. "We've got Salarian's tearing up the place up here. Get the females out of there, now!"

"Only one survived Wrex. We'll get her out of here safely. I promise."

The facilities lights flickered as the ceiling above them shook.

"Must hurry Shepard." Mordin jumped into the containment elevator with the female, while Shepard ran to the other elevator. She barely had time to turn away before the bomb exploded from inside the elevator.

"Ugh." She scrambled back to her feet, nobody was hurt. "I need another exit!" She shouted to a nearby Salarian. He opened the emergency exit for them. They climbed the ladder up to the next floor. Most of the base was on fire, there were Salarians fighting each other everywhere.

"How do we tell friendlies apart?" Liara asked.

"If they shoot at us they're not friendly." Garrus said just as a smoke bomb landed at their feet. Three Salarians charged them, they dived into cover to avoid their precision shots.

"Ila?" Shepard asked.

The Thendoran exhaled, then leapt out of cover, distracting the enemy so Liara could put down a singularity then Shepard and Garrus sniped them. They continued across the floor as gunships buzzed past them outside. The Yahg they had seen earlier smashed through a wall in front of them.

"There goes the next Shadow Broker!" Shepard joked.

"Could've sworn it was muttering T'Soni the whole time." Garrus added.

"All he needs is the suit and tie." Ila chuckled.

"Not funny." Liara said.

They climbed some stairs and up onto another floor, another bomb detonated in front of them, hurling them backward. Luckily Ila remained on her feet thanks to her suction pads, Shepard watched as she ran in and grabbed the Salarians and tossed them over the balcony. More Salarians were closing in on the containment elevator and the female and Mordin. They ran in firing at the enemy. These bastards really didn't want the genophage cured. The Krogan had suffered for years, unjustly. She sure as hell wasn't going to let these bastards ruin the only chance the Krogan had at a future. Hell, it was everyone's only chance at a future. Without the Turian-Krogan Alliance they didn't stand a chance in hell at defeating the Reapers.

She cleared the elevator through the checkpoint, the container's shields were holding, for now. The sooner this was over the better though.

"Meet us at next checkpoint. Splinter Cell likely to target-" Gunfire hit the side of the elevator, Shepard pulled her widow and took a head shot on one of the Salarians. Garrus got another and Liara sent the last hurtling to the valley floor below with a warp.

Wrex was on the comm telling them to hurry up. So they did. Liara and Garrus took the left side of the next floor while Ila and Shepard focused on the right. The Salarians weapons were pretty advanced and packed a hell of a punch. Ila was taking the brunt of the damage, choosing to stay out of cover so Shepard could snipe safely.

They found Kirrahe one floor up. "Commander stay back. Hostiles down the hall."

"Why are they doing this?"

"Genophage was always controversial. You've met people who opposed it. Well, these are the ones for it." Kirrahe danced out into the open and fired a pretty little gun at the salarians, they were ripped apart by powerful mass effect fields. Shepard whistled her appreciation.

"How do I not have one of those?" Garrus said from behind her.

More Salarians blocked the corridor. Kirrahe put down covering fire as Ila charged in, enabling Shepard, Garrus and Liara to flank. Shepard grabbed one Salarian, dragging him over the wall before stabbing him with her omnitool.

Ila was smashing a turret into an engineer. "Fuck you and your fucking turret!" Her arm was bleeding, it had obviously shattered her armour before she destroyed it.

At last they were on the top floor. The female was nearly safe.

"If this was a game there'd be a boss battle on this floor." Ila warned.

"Don't say that. You'll jinx it." Garrus said.

They took down a few more Salarians before they begun to move the females container.

"Don't you dare!" A Salarian said, they turned to see one holding a gun to Padok's head. A female Salarian. She was a bright green colour with big hazel eyes. It was so rare to see female Salarians, but they were on Sur'Kesh so it wasn't completely bizarre.

"You jinxed it." Garrus quipped.

Shepard raised her hands. "_Easy_."

"I can't let you cure the genophage, Commander Shepard." She said. Shepard groaned. _Not another hostage situation_. She really didn't want to have to shoot anyone again. She still felt bad about Kaidan still, every time she looked at him she couldn't help but see him bleeding on the floor. He kept telling her he was fine and happy to have taken it, but it still made her feel shitty. That move was one she hoped to never have to do. And now she found herself in a similar situation.

"You know my name, but I'm afraid I don't know yours.." Always start diplomatic.

"Jerra Nelus. _Ex_-STG." She spat. Someone wasn't happy about that.

"Nelus was removed from the genophage modification project, Shepard." Mordin explained.

"Removed!? I disagreed with the project, you threw me out!" She protested.

"Views too radical. Wanted to commit genocide. Destroy Krogan completely. Unacceptable."

"They are a foul race, capable only of destruction. Look at Tuchunka." She said as she held Padok around the neck a little tighter. He was signalling for Shepard to simply shoot her, despite him being in the way. She was a good shot, she didn't doubt her ability to make it, but wanted to play it safe if she could.

She knew the Krogan could be dangerous. She had seen the barren grounds of Tuchunka with her own eyes. But she had also spoken to Wrex, she knew what he planned and she was impressed. Even if she didn't desperately need the Krogan for the war, how could she allow them to go extinct when she had the cure sitting above her head? She let the Rachni queen live because she wasn't willing to commit genocide. It would have been easy to hit that big red button, killing her. Shepard was a risk taker, but more than that she liked to believe there was _good_ in everyone.

"They aren't all like that. Sure the Krogan can be a bit ill-tempered. But they're not monsters. I won't let you commit genocide."

"You unleashed the Rachni on the galaxy. Foolish move." She shook her head. "Even have Thendoran on squad. Their adaptability makes them most dangerous species in galaxy! Only a matter of time before uprising. Rachni, Krogan, Thendoran, all the same. Have to stop them. It's for the greater good."

"We _need_ them. Without the Krogan we don't stand a chance at stopping the Reapers. You're dooming the entire galaxy with your actions. How can you justify that as 'for the greater good'?"

"How short-sighted Commander. Once Reapers are defeated, Krogan will be unchallenged. Other races weak and rebuilding. Krogan will destroy them. _You _doom us all."

"Well I'd love to hear your plans for defeating the Reapers without them." Shepard laughed. "People change Nelus. Mordin here went from working on the genophage modification project to helping _cure_ it. You don't know that the Krogan will revolt after the Reapers are gone. And frankly it's foolish to think that far ahead when most people are just trying to survive until tomorrow. Sur'Kesh hasn't been touched by the Reapers yet. You're lucky. Earth and Palaven are _burning!_" She drew her gun. "Let Padok go." She snarled.

"I can't. I have to end this."

"Have my people not suffered enough?" The female Krogan said from above them in her container. "What if it were your own children dying, your own brothers and sisters on the verge of extinction?" Nelus hesitated. Padok moved with unbelievable speed, swiping the gun from Nelus' hands and knocking her to the floor, he stood over her threatening to shoot.

Nelus stood up slowly, Padok kept the gun pointed at her as she did so. She undid her cloak revealing explosives underneath. "Sorry."

Ila dived into Nelus. The explosion sent them all flying through the air. Shepard's head was spinning as she slowly got to her feet. "ILA!" She cried, rushing forward. The Thendoran was crumpled on the floor, a smoking crater below her. She coughed and sat up slowly. "Ila are you okay!?" She didn't look hurt, her armour was still intact but she looked very dazed and her hair had been singed by the blast. Shepard helped her up.

"Is there anything you can't survive? Space, lasers, bullets, bombs.." Garrus rattled on as he dusted himself off.

"You saved my life." Padok said shaking Ila's hand. "Thank you."

"Ughh, no problem." Ila said groggily.

"Your people are truly remarkable."

"Shepard! What's going on down there?" Wrex shouted through the comm. Shepard looked up, the Krogan female was fine.

"It's safe to land Wrex. Enemies neutralised."

Wrex landed the shuttle and jumped out. "You had me worried for a second there." He said shaking her hand. They opened the container and the female stepped out. She was completely fine. Relief flooded through her, she would get her alliance after all. Earth just needed to hang on a little longer.


	5. Plan B

"How do you feel?" Ila asked Grunt.

"Heh. Better. They still won't let me leave though. Think I might try to escape." Chuckled Grunt.

"Hmm. Security is pretty shitty here. Still, I don't think you'd be able to sneak out of here.."

"I could be a stealth-Krogan if I wanted."

"I believe that you believe you could be." She smiled. "I have something for you." She said handing him a sandwich.

"Mmmm! Heh, smells delicious. Thanks." He said as he took a massive mouthful. "This is that BBQ pork stuff! How did you know?"

"That it was your favourite? You started dribbling when we cooked it last year. My sensory ability also picked up on it, _surprisingly_ your love for BBQ pork was one of the more dominant memories for you. Up there with killing the Thresher Maw on Tuchunka and leaving your tank for the first time." She said with a smile.

"Mmm. I really like BBQ pork."

She left Grunt to enjoy his sandwich. He was one tough son of a bitch. He had held off the Rachni, allowing Shepard, Ila and the others to escape. They had saved the Rachni Queen, again. Ila really hoped she wouldn't get trapped by any more Reapers, she could be a very powerful ally to have. Hopefully the risk they were taking trusting her would pay off in the long run.

"Thane!" She said as she walked through the hospital. He was sitting with his son, Kolyat.

"Ila." Thane said nodding. "This is Kolyat. I don't believe you met before."

"We didn't. Nice to meet you. How are you both?"

"Okay. I need treatment daily now, some of the symptoms are not pleasant."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She was certain her mother would be able to cure him. But that would depend on her people being able to defeat the Reapers on Thendor first. "You should join me and Shepard for dinner some time, our treat."

"That would be nice. Thank you."

"How is Kahje faring in the war?"

"I haven't heard much, the planet is mostly water though, which may help."

"Mmm. I haven't seen any swimming Reapers yet."

"What about Thendor?"

"Untouched. So far."

"I'm glad to hear it."

The Citadel was getting busier and busier. People were cramming into the hospitals, more injured being rushed in every few minutes. It was quite chaotic. The peaceful calm of a few weeks ago had faded into desperation. People everywhere were coping with the war in different ways. Praying, crying, drinking, dancing, fighting. She saw it all as she walked through the Citadel. Shepard had become _her_ coping mechanism. They relied on one another, needed one another, now more than ever. They were both so stressed out with the war. Shepard especially, she took every death personally. With every new death the guilt sitting on her shoulders got a little heavier. So Ila was dragging the Commander out for drinks on the Citadel just to help them relax.

Shepard folded her arms. "What is that?"

Ila smiled. "Shots. six of them. Each."

"It's the middle of the day.."

"It's always night-time somewhere." She shrugged as she lifted their first round. "We need this."

"If I drank every time I got stressed or worried or.."

"We're drinking because it's my birthday."

"Wha-" Shepard shook her head. "I didn't know." She frowned.

"I never told anyone. My people don't celebrate such things. But it's a human tradition and well I figured why not?"

"You sure_ this_ is how you want to spend your birthday?" Shepard said suggestively.

"There's time for that later. Drink." They raised their glass and downed the burning liquid.

"How long _do_ you people live for?" Queried Shepard.

"We're top of the food chain. People only die from old age.."

"And what is old age?"

"Roughly 200 years."

"I don't think I ever asked your age?"

"Hmm. I guess it never really came up. I'm 22. 23 now."

"Happy birthday." Shepard said as she chugged another shot. "Tell that brother of yours to relax too, he deserves a break."

_You heard her Nehx. _She said to him.

_Alright. I'm relaxing, look I'm watching the sun rise, it's very beautiful._ He said back as he trained with their father on the cliff. She rolled her eyes.

They finished the shots and danced for hours. "What now?" Shepard said as they took a breather on one of Purgatory's leather sofas.

"We're going to eat birthday cake off of each other." Ila winked as she walked away.

"Wait did you buy a cake or can your adaptabilities make food too.." Shepard asked as she followed her.

* * *

Shepard slid out the tank, the Reaper ahead of them was one of the Destroyer types, more versed in ground combat than the bigger Capital ships. It only stood around 160 metres, that didn't make it look any less menacing though. It stood in front of the Shroud, a tall tower used to stabilise Tuchunka's climate. They needed to reach that tower to cure the genophage.

"What's this plan you were talking about then?" Shepard asked Wrex.

Their original plan had gone to shit almost immediately. The ground convoy had been lost to Tuchunka and to Kalros, the mother of all Thresher Maws. And the air support the Turians were providing had flown in without the ground team to back them up, after taking heavy losses they had no choice but to retreat.

Ila had killed one of these Destroyers in Vancouver, but she had flanked it, taking it by surprise. This Reaper knew they were coming and was ready to fight, so they would need to be more cautious.

"Kalros." The female Krogan; Eve said. Shepard liked her a lot, she had been through so much but that only made her want to fight for her people's future more. Shepard admired her determination and courage, it was clear the female Krogan were the brains of the species. "We summon her."

"You want to summon that thing back here?" She asked. Kalros had given them grief one their journey to the Shroud, devouring tanks and chasing them across sand dunes.

"This is her home as much as ours. She will defend it." Eve said.

"If Tuchunka has a temper, Kalros is it." Wrex added.

It made sense. It was still crazy though. Summoning a giant monster to fight a giant machine, it was like something out of a movie. "Alright, how do we summon her?"

"There are two Maw Hammers near the tower, activate them and she will come."

"We still have to reach the hammers." They looked pretty far away, and the path to them was straight, with little cover, they'd be right in the Reapers line of sight. "Ila can you keep it _entertained_ until then?"

"Sure let me just pull out my joke book." She said smiling.

"Maybe that's all the Reapers have ever wanted, someone to tell them a few jokes. It must be so boring in dark space." Garrus contemplated.

"Somehow I don't think the giant sentient machines want us to tell them jokes." Liara said.

"Stay in cover, but keep it interested." Said Shepard.

"No charging in, lit up like a sparkler?" Ila said pouting.

"Nope."

"Damn, I'd pay to see that." James said.

"Shepard you have been a friend to the Krogan and a sister to me!" Wrex said as they shook hands. "From this day forward the name Shepard will mean hero!"

"Stay safe everyone." She said as they parted ways. She kissed Ila on the cheek and told her to be extra careful.

Ila headed to the far left to keep the Reapers attention elsewhere. Shepard took everyone else up the middle. "Kaidan, James, stay left. Liara, Garrus stay right. EDI, Javik and I will take the centre. Let's do this."

They charged up the steps, Reaper ground forces fell from the sky, they all dived into cover and shot their way through. The cannibals, husks and marauders were joined by mutated rachni now as well. She hated seeing so many species turned into these vile creations. How many more species would join the Reapers forces before they ended this war?

* * *

There wasn't a lot of cover for Ila to stick to in the surrounding area but she did her best. The Reaper had definitely noticed her, its laser kept blowing up her cover. It wasn't really aiming at her so much though. She wondered if that was deliberate. Harby always wanted Shepard alive, for whatever reason, perhaps they wanted her alive too? She'd already considered how difficult fighting an indoctrinated or mutated Thendoran would be. The Reapers would be able to create monsters from her people. She wouldn't let that happen. She'd kill herself before the Reapers could catch her. She rolled to the side as the laser ripped through the air above her head.

* * *

Shepard cloaked and moved up some steps. She jumped over a gap in the bridge, she saw red out of the corner of her eye, the Reapers laser only just missed her. The bridge crumbled to the floor and she hit the dirt hard. _Fuck._ She could still feel the heat of it on her armour. That was close.

"Everyone okay?" She said as she stood back up.

"Yeah." Garrus said as he cleared his throat. "I think so. Did we just get shot by a Reaper!?"

"Looks that way. Ila! What happened to distracting it?" Shepard said over the comm.

"Sorry! It got bored with my insults!" Ila responded.

"You trash talked the Reaper?" Said Javik.

"Yeah."

"What did you say?" Kaidan asked.

"Err, I called it an ugly bucket head, before throwing a piece of wall at it."

"We need to work on your trash talk!" Said James.

They ran forward. "I've lifted the hammers Shepard. My advice; avoid the giant laser!" Wrex said helpfully.

The Reaper was blowing up all their cover, sending them staggering left and right. She could barely walk in a straight line through all the chaos around her. Suddenly gunships rushed over their heads. The Turians had returned to give them a better distraction than Ila. _Thank God_. They needed all the help they could get.

They were almost directly under the Reaper now. More brutes, husks, cannibals and rachni attacked. It was a shit storm. Shepard cloaked and moved forward. She ducked underneath a brute before sniping a husk, she rolled to the side as another brute barrelled toward her. She could barely keep track of what the others were doing, explosions kept knocking her over and the noise of the Reaper above blasting its horn was deafening.

"Holy shit!" James cried as a brute smashed into him. Kaidan and Liara were on the brute in seconds, warping and reaving it until it died. Javik blasted more husks into the ruins before firing his particle gun. He really did look like a force of vengeance at times. Shepard needed to reach the hammers, she left her team to fend for themselves as she climbed the steps. The Reapers leg came crashing down in front of her, she stopped just short of being crushed. She hit the first hammer and ran back down the steps.

A brute grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. She struggled to her feet but it grabbed her again and slammed her into the ground. Her shields were gone, the wind knocked out of her lungs. Her head spun as she tried to move. The brute lifted its fists about to bring it down on her head. A blur of gold tore the brute in half. It fell to the floor next to Shepard.

"We're not dying today. Get up." Ila said as she pulled her to her feet. They ran for the second hammer. Fighting anything that got in their way.

"Shepard get that second hammer going!" Wrex said.

"There's a Reaper in my way Wrex!" She said as she stumbled forward.

"I know, you get all the fun!"

They reached the second hammer and lowered it. "Go, head back to the truck!" Shepard said to the others, James was badly hurt and Liara had a nasty gash on her forehead, they needed to get to safety.

"I'm not going anywhere" Ila said. Shepard nodded. They looked to their left. Kalros was coming. "_Damn_." She was huge and moving fast through the sand toward them.

The Reaper noticed the Maw too, walking forward to face her. It fired its laser but Kalros dived back underground, the Reaper ceased firing then Kalros leaped onto it, biting down on its shell. They toppled to the floor, sending rubble flying everywhere, the Reaper tried to fire its laser desperately but failed to hit the Maw. Shepard and Ila jumped down heading for the Shroud. Kalros ambushed the Reaper again, smashing it into the sand.

"She just fucking crushed it to death!" Ila said as they watched Kalros drag the Reaper into the sand below.

"Come on we don't have time to-" Another Reaper horn blared from above. They both looked up to see another Reaper landing. It was followed by the blare of another horn. There were two coming. "Shit."

"Go. Deal with the cure. I'll keep them busy."

"Ila.." She didn't want to leave the Thendoran to fight them, but they didn't have a choice.

"GO!"

Shepard ran inside, Mordin was at a console. "Mordin, is the cure ready?" Explosions were ripping the tower above them apart.

"Yes. Loaded for dispersal, procedure traumatic for Eve but not lethal. Maelon's research invaluable."

That was a relief. "She's okay?"

"Headed to safety now. Her survival fortunate. Will stabilise new government should Wrex get any ideas. Good match. Promising future for Krogan."

Shepard agreed, she was glad Eve and Wrex were working together to rule the Krogan. They made a good team. Shepard flinched as a massive slab of debris crashed to the floor nearby. "Control room at top of Shroud tower, must take elevator up." Mordin said.

The tower was a burning mess. "You're going up there!?"

"Yes, manual access required. Have to counteract STG sabotage. Ensure cure disperse properly."

Ash rained down around them. If he went up there he would die. "Mordin this whole place is coming apart. There's got to be another way!"

"No. No other option. Not coming back. Suggest you get clear. Explosion likely to be _problematic_." He started to walk toward the elevator.

She chased after him. There had to be something they could do, some other way.."Mordin. No!"

"Shepard please. Need to do this. My project. My work. My cure. My responsibility." He took a deep breath. "Would have liked to run tests on seashells."

Her eyes filled with tears. He had told her about his dream of retirement while he was back on the Normandy. She stepped forward and pulled off her necklace. It was a seashell chain her and Ila made on Nevos together. "Here." She said handing it to him.

"Thank you." He said.

"I'm sorry." She said as tears fell down her cheeks.

Mordin smiled. "I'm not. Had to be me." He closed the elevator doors. "Someone else might have gotten it wrong."

The elevator ascended up the tower. The building was shaking violently, she forced herself to head outside. Ila was sitting on top of one of the Destroyers hitting it repeatedly with the leg of the dead Destroyer. She then shifted and slammed the leg into the Reapers canon. She hopped off and shrunk back down as she approached Shepard.

"Where's Mordin? What happened?" Ila asked.

"He went up in the elevator." Shepard said sadly.

"What!?" Ila started to grow. The tower began dispersing the cure above them. Tiny little snowflakes fell to the ground around them, glowing golden as they landed on her gloves. Ila was nearly at the tower base when the explosion ripped through the top of the tower. Mordin was dead. Ila smashed her fists into the tower, realising she was too late. Shepard wiped the tears from her eyes and approached her. The Thendoran shrank back down to normal size and fell to her knees.

"He's gone Ila." She swallowed hard. "We can't stay here. The tower's going to explode." Shepard said pulling her to her feet.


	6. Help

The Reaper fired its laser into the dusty surface below. Her arm tingled, the usual sensation she got before an adaptation took place. Her entire arm transformed, her armour spreading out over her hands and ending in a razor-sharp point; her own personal sword. Perfect for stabbing this Reaper with.

She'd already punched it enough to knock out its shields, turns out Reapers can handle the strongest guns, lasers and explosions but mêlée blows did a lot of damage. Most advanced machines in the galaxy but they never expected an organic to grow big enough to wrestle with them. That's how Kalros killed them and that's how her own people would do it too.

She laughed as she lifted her arm up and brought it down hard on the Reapers vulnerable back. She went straight through its plate armour. She repeated the process, over and over. The Reaper shuddered and whirred beneath her, struggling desperately to shake her. Its laser was creating an impressive crater in Menae. She figured the Turians wouldn't mind too much as long as it resulted in a Reaper corpse.

She'd returned to the moon alone to help the Turians. She felt obligated to. Last time they were here she'd done nothing but fight ground forces. She knew she could do more but hadn't. She used to be so selfish, she'd left Thendor to see the stars, without thinking about the consequences for her people. But now? She wasn't doing this for herself anymore. Sure, she still loved to fight, wrestling Reapers into the ground certainly gave her a hell of a rush, but her main reason for all of this was to help. There had been a time when she didn't understand why Shepard went out of her way to help everyone. It seemed a total waste of time when they needed to find Saren. But helping people felt good, it also had the added benefit of creating more allies for the fight against the Reapers.

Shepard didn't exactly approve of her coming out here alone though, but she could hardly stop her from going. She couldn't talk about how dangerous solo missions were when she was on one now too. On Omega, working with Aria fighting Cerberus to regain control of the station. It sounded like another damned suicide mission with the amount of defences a place like Omega had. But Shepard seemed to_ love_ missions with almost impossible odds of success.

She cut her way up the Reapers back, tearing through metal and wiring, organic fluid oozed out into the dirt as she split it in two. She pulled the two halves apart and the core exploded. She flew back into the dirt. _One Reaper down_. Only another million to go. She stood up. She could see one of the bigger Reapers heading toward her. Clearly annoyed at her presence on the moon. _Sakela._ She swore as it fired its laser, she rolled to the side. Her hearts were thudding in her chest. She had avoided these bigger ones for a reason, they were fucking huge. She grabbed half of the Reaper's corpse, using it as a shield. The laser hit her hard but the Reaper's armour helped deflect it.

_Do not engage that thing!_ Her brother warned her through their neural bond.

"Didn't plan to." She said backing away from the Reaper. It hit her again, cutting the Destroyer's corpse in half, leaving her exposed. Her breath hitched as she stared straight ahead at the massive monster heading her way.

_Run!_ Nehxis screamed at her.

She decided to obey her brothers advice. She ran, dodging and ducking to the side as the Reaper continued to fire at her. She shrunk back down and legged it down a canyon. The Reaper was standing on the cliff above, its laser firing down on her. She rolled away from it and slipped on a rock, falling head first down the near vertical cliff face.

She shook her head as she stood back up. The Reaper blared its massive war horn and fired again. She raced forward and skidded around a corner, straight into another Reaper. She smashed into its leg. She looked up as the Destroyer turned to face her. _Shit, shit shit_. It primed its canon. She rolled underneath it. Then grew in size. She grabbed one of its legs, she was getting weaker, it took all of her strength to trip it up. The larger Reaper on the cliff found them down in the valley, it fired at her again, this time she used the living Reaper as a shield. The explosion sent her hurtling against a cliff. She shrunk back down and leapt away as the Reaper fired at her again. Pain flared through her legs, she fell face first into the dirt. Her vision blurring as she tried to move. She could smell charred flesh, her flesh. She began crawling away but cannibals and marauders were running toward her. She couldn't lift herself enough to fight them, they surrounded her. One of them was holding her leg in its hand. That was wrong..

* * *

She opened her eyes and took a shaky breath. She was lying in a cave. She groaned as she tried to sit up.

"Don't." She turned her head to the side. There was a female Turian sitting next to her. "Don't look." She clarified.

Ila remembered the pain in her legs..the Reapers around her. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure. A patrol said they found you in the canyon, over the comm. But they went silent. My team went in to investigate. The Reapers were all over you. We killed them and got you out of there, but more swarmed in. It was too hot for an evac, my men blew up half the canyon to wipe out the Reapers, while I hid with you in this cave. The entrance caved in though. We're stuck."

What a mess. "Comms?"

"Broken." _Damn_. They would need to get out of here ASAP, Shepard would be expecting an update on Ila's progress soon. The last thing Shepard needed was more stress and worry.

She could smell Turian blood in the air. "You're injured."

"Got shot. I'm Sergeant Aelacia Medana by the way."

"Pleasure. Where were you shot?"

"Leg. Marauder got me as I dragged you in here. I hate those mutated bastards."

She lifted her head and looked down at her body, everything below her thighs was _gone_. "Ughh."

"I told you not to look."

"Need to cut the charred flesh away.." Ila said drawing her claws, her hand was shaking as she began to dig it into her burnt skin.

* * *

"Aghhh." She screamed. She opened her eyes to see the Turian digging her knife into her leg.

"You passed out. So I started cutting away the burnt skin myself. Nearly done."

She could feel the skin beginning to heal. Her legs were aching badly as the bone started to regrow, sending sharp pain through her body. _Worst growing pains ever_. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"The rest will heal. It'll take time though." Ila informed her.

"I can wait. I have enough food to last a while.. I don't have any non-dextro food though." She said apologetically.

"I'll eat my arm if I have to. It'll regenerate anyway." Aelacia's mandibles flared. "That was a joke.."

"I knew that." She said rubbing her neck.

The pain of her legs regenerating was unbearable, she needed to distract herself. "So does anyone know we're in here?"

"Not likely. My entire team died blowing up the Reapers." She said matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry."

"My orders were to save you. No matter the cost."

"Why were those your orders?"

"The Primarch said he owed you one, for saving his son." They'd recently stopped an old Turian bomb from going off on Tuchunka. The Primarch's son had climbed onto the war head and dismantled it. He was about to fall to his death but Ila caught him.

"Appreciate it."

"You kill a few more Reapers for us and we're even."

"We should sort your leg out now."

"I tried cleaning it, I don't have a lot of medical supplies though."

"Let me." She dragged herself over with her arms. She undid Aelacia's bandages. The wound was starting to swell and was hot to the touch. She rubbed her hands together. "This is a mild antiseptic, dextro friendly." She said as she massaged the liquid into the wound. The Turian flinched at the pain but didn't say anything. "I can try to heal it.."

"Save your energy."

"It will get infected if I don't do something.."

"You need your strength. I'll be fine."

"Okay." She leant back against the wall. "How's the war going for you personally? Heard from family, friends?"

"Poorly. My entire family is military. They're all gone now. Killed the first day."

"Damn the Reapers."

"Yeah." She said sadly. "This Crucible project? Will it work?"

"I hope so." She rubbed her neck, she felt so faint. "I'm going to take a nap.."

"I'll be here."

* * *

When she woke up her legs were back. Fully healed. She sighed happily as she stretched them out. She turned to look at the Turian. "You don't look so good.."

"You've been out for two days. My legs infected." She said plainly.

She would need to get her out of here and to a medic soon as possible. "Then I suggest we get the fuck out of here?" She said standing, she grabbed the wall as her head spun.

The Turian's head plate shifted up, she was surprised. "Can you fight?"

She took a deep breath and smiled. "Fighting is my speciality."

She slammed her shoulder in to the boulders blocking the entrance, the rocks shifted and tumbled down the cliff. Her hands were shaking, but she forced herself to focus on getting them out of here.

"Lean on me." She said to Aelacia. Slowly the climbed down the cliff face, the Turian holding onto Ila tightly as she limped down the loose rocky surface.

Cannibals ran at them, their bullets bouncing harmlessly off of Ila's armour. Aelacia lifted them into the air, they slammed them back. Ila stared at her. "A biotic?Cool." That would help a lot. She walked over to the downed cannibals and killed them. She picked up their guns, holding onto one herself and giving the other to the Turian. They rounded the corner, more Reapers were in the valley ahead of them. They shot their way through.

"There's a path not far ahead. If we can get to it we should be able to reach an outpost not far from here." Aelacia said.

Ila fired at more, stabbing any that got close. She hit another with the gun, knocking it out. They reached the path and scrambled up it, progress was slow with Ila feeling so weak and the Turian limping beside her, but they reached the top. A Laser cut through the ground toward them, Ila threw Aelacia to the side before rolling out the way of the laser too. _For fuck's sake._

She stood back up, the Capital ship was watching her. They all had a distinct look to them. This one was quite tall and looked very squid-like, the tip of its shell was wide and pointed, the middle of it narrowed before widening slightly again at the bottom. She ran to Aelacia's side and helped her back up. The Reaper fired its laser again, Ila pushed the Turian forward. Then grabbed her and forced her to run. She was sweating profusely as the laser kept narrowly missing them. With both of them being so weak she was certain the Reaper should have killed them by now. It was strange behaviour. The Destroyers on Tuchunka had acted similarly. Almost like they didn't want to actually kill her.

"Leave me. I'm just slowing you down." Aelacia gasped out.

"No. We'll be fine." She said as she dragged her through the moons rocky surface.

"I'm already dying, I'm not worth the trouble."

She pinned her against a rock. "Don't say that." She growled. "They want us to give up, they want us so weary and desperate that we_ beg_ them for death. Fuck that. We'll fight them to the last man or woman. Now get up."

She dragged her to her feet and carried her in her arms. Her whole body shaking with each step. She ducked between rocks and boulders then jumped down into a ravine to catch her breath. The Reaper was still chasing them, gaining fast.

"Bet you regret dragging me along now." Aelacia said as the Reaper was practically on her tail.

"Not a chance." They were leading the Reaper straight to the out-post though. More people would get caught in the cross fire if she didn't do something..She put the Turian down on the ground. "I'll be right back." She said as she jumped out of the ravine and walked toward the Reaper.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Aelacia said.

"Talking with it." She said back. Then to the Reaper she said "Come on then! Kill me!" The Reaper fired its laser, she stepped to the side. It fired again, and again she dodged it easily. "You're not even trying! What do you want?" She yelled.

"Surrender." It boomed.

"I don't think so squid-head. I'm not going to rest until every single Reaper is dead!"

"You will lose. Surrender and your people will not be harvested."

She scoffed. "This cycle. But they will be the next or the cycle after. Delaying the inevitable isn't much of an incentive!"

"Your arrogance is your weakness. You killed the smallest and weakest of my kind. Our numbers are in the thousands. You will never defeat us."

"Well I'd rather try to fight you all instead of surrendering! I won't become your _pet_."

"Your stubbornness will cost you dearly. The harvest will continue."

It fired its laser, this time she actually had to dive to the side to avoid it. She would have to fight it. She didn't have a choice. She took a deep breath and grew in size. This Reaper was slower than others due to its hulking size, that didn't stop her hearts pounding in her chest, this was suicidal. She grimaced as she ran toward it, rolling left as it fired again. She got back up and leapt onto its leg. She climbed up it and onto the Reapers shell. It fired smaller guns at her, the missiles nearly made her lose her grip but her suction pads stopped her from falling. Her arm turned into a spear, she stabbed at the missiles and thrusters on the Reapers back. She wanted to cripple this bastard as much as she could.

Finally she reached the top of the Reaper. Its massive tip was its weakness. She would use it against it. She willed her armour to get heavier. It obeyed. She felt sluggish and tired but she gripped onto the edge of the tip and dangled her legs from it. She started to rock back and forth. The Reaper was very top heavy, even so it still took her a long time to knock it over. It crashed into the dirt, a massive dust cloud rising around her, stinging her eyes and making her cough. It tried to stand again but her weight was too much.

She moved around and grabbed one of its front legs. With all her strength she pulled it back, up and over its shell. The legs weren't meant to be bent this way. She could hear it creaking and groaning below her but she was trembling from the effort. Her vision turning white at the edges. It was so heavy, just one leg weighed more than she'd ever lifted before. The Reaper was firing its laser into the dirt but she held on, pulling the leg hard, contorting the metal. Finally there was a resounding crack as the leg snapped out of its socket. She let the leg flop back to the ground. It tried to stand again but she grabbed the other leg, pulling it hard. She repeated the process, her head spinning from the effort. The leg cracked and she flopped to the floor, barely able to stand. But the Reaper couldn't it only had four legs so taking out two would leave it severely handicapped. That combined with destroying its thrusters meant it was grounded, indefinitely.

"I hope you like the taste of sand, cos that's all you'll be harvesting from now on." She said as she spat at the Reaper. She shrunk back down and staggered back to Aelacia. The Turian ran to her and gave her a hand.

"What? Killing it was too much effort?" Aelacia said as they hobbled toward the outpost. Ila let out a huff of air. Too tired for words. "And here I thought you were getting cocky."

She smiled at her. "Not quite. They scare the shit out of me."

They reached the outpost where Aelacia was rushed off for treatment. "Come visit me on the Citadel, if I'm not dead." She said smiling.

"Will do." She said as she sat down hard on the ground. "I recommend you fire at it from a safe distance. It can't move, so fire at it from a certain angle and it won't be able to hit your ships.." She said to the outpost's General.

"I can't thank you enough, you killed two Destroyers and crippled a Capital ship. That's some fine work indeed."

"Many of your men died though.."

"They did. And they will be honoured. But you're safe and that's all that matters." The Turian said standing over her.

She would have said more but she heard her name being shouted from across the base. She turned to see Shepard running toward her."Ila! It's been days what the fuck happened!?" She said sinking to her side.

"Sorry." She ran a hand through her hair. "I'll explain everything. On the Normandy?"

* * *

"So you just left the Reaper rolling around in the dirt with no legs?" James asked as he cooked some bacon.

"Yes." She said.

"HA! That's what I'm talking about! Show those Reapers who's boss!"

"We should let you kill Reapers more often." Javik added as he leant against the kitchen work-top.

"Not like that. You nearly died Ila. It cut your legs off for fuck's sake." Shepard said pacing the crew deck.

"She survived did she not? She is a predator. Now they are her prey. Let her hunt more often." Javik said.

"I wouldn't call the Reapers _prey_. They wanted her alive, now they don't. That means they'll be more dangerous than ever." Garrus said.

"Turian morale is up though, the Reapers have also reduced their attack force on Menae since Ila's assault." EDI said.

"That's something." Liara said.

"So can we drink now? We cured the genophage, took back Omega and killed a bunch of Reapers. All in all, a pretty good week, no?" Kaidan asked.

_Ila. The Teranian beacon just went offline_. Her brother informed her via their bond. Her hearts sank. That was the beacon nearest her system's relay. She'd put a series of them around her planet with a control panel on Thendor itself to warn them. She had hoped the Reapers would leave her people alone a little longer. It would give them more time to prepare. _Nehxan just went offline _too. He said. Ila clenched her fists.

The other's were discussing which alcohol to open. "Don't." Ila said as she took a shaky breath.

"What?" James said, confused.

She looked up at them all, then found Shepard's eyes. "The Reapers are heading to Thendor." She swallowed hard.

"Are they ready?" Shepard asked worriedly.

_We are._ Her brother said confidently.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough."


	7. Dark skies

**Author's note: Multi POV chapter. Enjoy. **

* * *

_We are_. He said to Ila as he clambered up a tree, high into the canopy. The sky above was a dark indigo today. He frowned at that, his people believed that dark skies meant there would be great sorrow in the days to come. He hoped that wasn't true. They had planned for this moment for months. Training hard, learning everything they could about their new prey. Ila had shown just how deadly they could be already, killing Destroyers and crippling a Capital ship. And that was by herself. Nehxis had an entire army lying in wait. That didn't stop him from feeling nervous though. His hands were shaking as he crouched in the tree. The silence around him did nothing to ease his worries. It was as if the forest was holding its breath, waiting for the approaching invasion. There were no buzzing insects or singing birds, even the wind had stopped. The only noise was his beating hearts, pounding in his chest.

_Be careful Dradra_ Ehlga said to him. The sound of his daughter's voice made the fear dissipate slightly. She was hiding out with Tahron and Silla in a cave system they had constructed deep under the mountains. The mothers and children from every clan would be safe there, he hoped. His mother and a few other brave warriors were guarding the entrance just in case there was trouble.

_I'll be with you again soon Ehl. Look after your Midi and Tahron for me._

"Are you ready my son?" His Father asked from his side, he blended into the tree better than Nehxis ever could with his bright silver skin.

"I am. You Drano?"

"I am." He sighed. "Hundreds of years of peace, about to come crashing down.."

"Ha, it's in our blood to fight!" Elder Olnius said from the branch over. "At least this way we have something to focus our anger on. Our people are united against one foe. We _will_ be victorious." The Elder had been so confident, he had motivated every clan to their cause, he was so sprightly for an older man.

The sky above lit up, red lightning, flickering through the clouds. War horns blared, sending shivers down his spine.

"Here they come." Nehxis said.

The Capital ships emerged through the clouds, they were gigantic. His breath hitched at the sight of them, there were more than he thought there would be. _Maker guide us._ They crashed down into the grasslands just beyond the line of trees Nehxis was perched in. Followed by Reaper ground forces, vile monstrosities, created from other unfortunate species. They started to walk into the forests, north and south of the plains.

_Light the fires_. He ordered.

He was doing this for Ehlga, for Tahron and Silla, for all of them. The Reapers would not turn them into those _things_.

* * *

Seti was waiting in a tree, overlooking the clearing below. She wasn't used to being so high up, the sandy beaches, far from here, were her usual hunting grounds. She spent much of her day's hunting fish, sat on rocks waiting patiently before striking with her spear arm. This ambush of theirs was not so different to that. That's why Nehxis had put her in this tree, overseeing the burning bonfire below her. She would lead the attack, striking first. Through the neural bond she had with everyone she could see the enemies approaching, these _Reapers._ They were cutting their way through the thickest and deepest part of the rainforest. Soon they would be at her trap. She positioned herself on the edge of the branch, still out of sight, but ready to pounce. Her own skin was usually a pale yellow to match the beaches, today it looked much darker, hidden in the shadows of the huge trees.

She normally worked alone, the long hours required to feed herself from fishing meant she did little else. Before a hunt she'd meditate and calm her mind, she'd almost go into a trance, thinking like her prey, waiting for them to make a mistake. She couldn't do that now though, this neural link was so distracting. She could feel the fear, the excitement, the worry of every member of her species. That only escalated her own personal fears. Part of her wished Ila had just surrendered to the Reapers. They would have been left alone, maybe. She did not want to go to war against these alien machines. She just wanted to go home, she missed the quite calm of the sea, the sand between her toes with water lapping at her ankles and the fresh air it provided, these forests were so humid she could barely breathe. Or perhaps it was the panic rising up inside her that left her breathless.

She heard a twig snap from far below. She froze, they were here. She stared down as the enemies entered the clearing. She could count at least twenty. Mostly the fat ones and some of the taller ones, marauders, Nehxis called them.

_Wait_. Nehxis said to them all.

She realised she was holding her breath, she exhaled. The Reapers were circling around the fire, she selected her target; a marauder with its back to her.

_Now_! Nehxis ordered.

Seti leapt from her branch. Her arm transformed into a spear mid-air. Others were doing the same, they all dived from the trees. She slammed her spear-arm through its back as she landed on the forest floor. She stood and spun as a cannibal fired its gun at her, she got in close and stabbed her arm through its head. It fell to the floor, its blue mouth still open in shock.

* * *

Jex was sitting on his wyvern's back; Melcor. He was a magnificent lilac coloured beast, one of the bigger wyverns in these mountains. Not as large as the black monster Vain once rode, but still impressive. He had fond memories of Vain and that wyvern of his; Zyur. Jex's clan had a _friendly_ rivalry with Vain's clan and often raced one another around the mountain peaks, Zyur was faster but Melcor could turn quicker. It had been a lot of fun. Of course they all made fun of Melcor for his feminine colouring but they soon stopped teasing him when they saw how easily he took down a full-grown _Bhona._ He rubbed the wyverns neck, Jex's markings were glowing faintly, illuminating his grey skin. He couldn't help it, he was visibly trembling. They had trained for months, Nehxis pushing them hard to adapt and plan for every possibility. He was itching to fight these monsters. The attack had already begun, their camp fires drawing the ground forces deep into the forests, to their deaths. His legs were tapping as he waited impatiently. The Reapers began firing their lasers into the forests, clearly annoyed they had been led into a trap.

_Wyverns!_ Nehxis called out. Jex grinned.

Melcor dived down the rocky valley, his wings pulled back tightly as they descended. Jex bent down low, close to the wyverns neck, streamlining their fall.

"Waaahhhhhhooooooo" He screamed happily. The other riders screamed out similar calls. The wyvern opened his wings, gliding low over the valley, they turned sharply and headed in through the light forest. Melcor brushed past the trees with incredible speed.

_"Come and get me you ugly Chellets!" _He cried as he led Melcor out over the grasslands. The Reapers turned to face them immediately. Their lasers shooting up into the sky. Melcor dodged left avoiding a laser. They dived in close, distracting the giant machines. Wyverns filled the sky, blocking out the sun as they circled and charged around the Reapers. They engaged the flying foes, the drones and harvesters, tearing into them. The skies were a blur of colour and death. Some of his people inevitably died, too slow or unlucky to avoid the red beams of death. He could feel every death, like a fire being put out. But that just made his own burn brighter.

* * *

The wyverns were diving and spinning through the sky gracefully. They made dodging the lasers look easy. She was pretty sure it would be a lot harder running across the ground though. Her brother's and her were still waiting in the trees for their orders. They set their eyes on a particularly tall Reaper. It had landed on the edge of the grass sea. Near the rocky cliffs. Lei knew exactly where she was going to put that Reaper when they got close. Her family group were merpeople usually, they thrived underwater. They always worked as a team to corral their prey. Often circling them and trapping them with a strong netting like substance they could produce from their fingers, before going in for the kill. She hoped that would work on this Reaper now.

_Chaaarge!_ Nehxis screamed. Her brothers ran in first, Rae and Jur taking the left and San and Cal the right. The middle was hers. They grew in size with every step, they would never be able to match the Reapers height, but they didn't need to. She ran under the Reaper, her webbing sticking to the metal of its leg, they all started weaving in and out, slowly tying it up.

Cal dived into the grass, as the laser tore into the ground behind him. Jur tackled the Reapers legs, throwing it off-balance slightly.

Lei helped her brother up."Lying down on the job?!" She joked as they dodged another laser.

The Reapers legs were tied tightly together now, it was unable to move at all. Cal, Jur and Rae clambered up its shell to the towering tip above. Lei and Sal grabbed hold of all the webbing and charged toward the cliff. They jumped over the edge and dangled mid-air as they tried to pull the Reaper down with them. She felt her armour shifting, growing heavier. Her brothers were rocking on the Reaper above, trying to topple it over.

"You're not fat enough!" She shouted at Sal.

"And you're not pulling hard enough!" He said back.

Suddenly they dropped down the cliff. She grinned as she landed gently on the rocks below. She looked up, the Reaper was about to crash down on their heads.

"Ah." She said as they dived out the way. One of the wyvern riders was on the Reaper, Jex was his name, he had assisted her brothers by slamming into the Reaper, giving it the last shove they needed to knock it off the cliff. The ground shook as the Reaper crashed into the rocks. They didn't waste any time. They charged in to finish it off.

* * *

Terran grabbed a marauder by the throat and slammed it into the floor, he stabbed a claw into its temple, killing it. A group of husks charged toward him, his arm extended into a spear, he swept it low, knocking them to the floor. He stabbed one with his spear arm before changing it back to his normal hands, claws extended, he stabbed the other two husks in the chest. A ravager hit him in the gut, he rolled to the side then ran at it. It fired again but he jumped over the shot and ploughed into it. He ripped the gun from its head then buried his sword arm deep into the squishy tissues beneath.

The battle was going well, the main Baleen; hunting party, was all over the Capital ships, knocking them to the floor. More and more Reaper troops landed on the ground though, they could easily weaken the Baleen so Nehxis had ordered everyone not engaged in killing Reapers to deal with the ground forces. Terran was used to hunting on these plains, his purple skin usually camouflaged him enough for him to get close and land a precision blow. That wouldn't help him now but he still knew all the weak points of these new enemies. He stabbed his arm up through a cannibals mouth, then leapt onto the back of a husk and grabbed both its jaws, then pulled them apart.

He ducked behind a Reaper as a marauder fired at him again. He used the neural link with his people to see where the marauder was, then he jumped over the Reaper and dived down onto the marauder stabbing his claws into its neck. His armour deflected yet more bullets being fired at him, he ran at the attacker, another marauder. He went to tackle it but the marauder rolled to the side. Terran was fast though, and a lot taller than the reaper creäture, he kicked out with his leg, knocking it on its ass. He finished it off quickly. He ducked as a wyvern crashed to the ground, barely missing his head. The wyverns rider was screaming in agony on the floor. A Reaper laser had blown her arm off.

"Need a hand?" He said smirking as he helped her to her feet again.

"Very funny." She said as she cut into the flesh on her arm, removing the burnt tissue. It began to regenerate almost immediately. Another Reaper laser smashed toward them, he pushed her to the side but didn't have time to move himself.

* * *

He stabbed his sword arm into the Reaper's shell, ripping off entire plates at a time. The shields had come down some time ago. His father, Elder Olnius and his group of warriors had flipped a fat, round Reaper onto its back and were now tearing into its belly, avoiding its canon of course. The battle was going well, almost all the Capital ships were crippled. The Reaper shuddered beneath him, still trying to right itself. It was futile though, his hunters were all over it. Nehxis found its mass effect core.

"Clear." He shouted before stabbing his sword arm deep into the Reapers core. The explosion sent him flying through the air, suddenly something grabbed him. It was Zyur. The big wyvern had appeared some time during the battle to help out. He was grateful for it. "Good boy." He said as he climbed onto the wyverns back. More Reaper ships descended from the clouds, their lasers smashed down into the ground, burning everything in their path. His people were starting to die in the chaos.

_Ariit!_ He ordered.

* * *

"Finally!" Krahna shouted. She unfolded her wings and leapt into the sky. She had been waiting to join the battle for far too long. Her clan followed her up through the clouds. The Ariit were a specialised group of Thendorans with huge leathery wings, Krahna was their leader. They soared high above the clouds, she could hear the Reapers below, blaring their war horns as their laser tore into the ground. The sound of battle made her giggle with glee. They had one very simple task to do. Land the new Capital ships. The Reapers weren't stupid, they were being slaughtered on the ground so now they were staying in the sky. Of course they didn't count on her people being able to fly too.

She lined one up, far below. "Aaahhhwwwaaaaaaaaoooooh" She screeched as she flew down, spinning through clouds. She loved flying, nothing could compare to it. Seeing the whole of Thendor from the top of the sky, flying through the clouds with the wind howling by her. She was grinning like a lunatic as she slammed into the Reaper, it hurtled into the floor. Smashing into the forest below. She tucked her wings in as she rolled off it. It started to stand again. But the Baleen were on it in seconds. Tripping it up and knocking it back down.

She wasn't going to let them have all the fun. She charged back up into the sky, picking another target. A big Reaper, the tip of its shell was split into three spikes that matched its spiked exterior. She'd need to be careful not to impale herself on them. The Reaper saw her and fired its laser. She rolled left, then swept up and over it. She climbed higher and higher the wind rushing past her. Then she turned and let out another howl as she dropped toward it. Others of her clan converged on the same Reaper, they slammed into it, throwing it to the floor below.

"Play time!" She cackled. They each grabbed a leg and beat their huge wings, lifting the fallen Reaper back into the sky. They started spinning in a circle. Fast and faster, the Reapers laser fired in a long arc but it couldn't touch them at this angle. "Have a nice trip!" She leered as they let go of the Reaper sending it flying through the clouds into another Capital ship. Both Reapers smashed into the plains below, where more warriors descended on them. They picked up a Reaper corpse and smashed it into several harvesters and attack drones that were giving some of the wyvern riders grief. "This is so much fun!" She grinned as she clobbered another Reaper.

* * *

He leapt off Zyur, landing on one of the attack drones, the Oculi. His arm transformed into a hook, he smashed it into the things canon, ripping back the plating around its edge. He slammed his claws through the cables and wiring. It shuddered and began to drop from the sky. He leapt off it and back onto Zyur. The huge wyvern roared as they charged toward a harvester. Nehxis' arm extended into a razor-sharp blade. They raced in then dropped at the last second, his arm took the harvesters head clean off.

The Reapers sounded their war horns again, this time though they lifted into the sky. Zyur banked right avoiding one as it flew up into the clouds. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The Reapers were in full retreat.

"Yaaaahhoooooooo" He cried victoriously.

* * *

"Now, we can drink." Ila said relieved. She sat down at the table, her feet were sore from pacing back and forth all day.

"Hell yeah!" James said as he popped a beer.

"We're not drinking that piss poor stuff." Kaidan said pulling out his Canadian whiskey. He gave Ila a cheeky smirk, it was the same kind she'd bought for him after drinking his original stuff.

"Well, with a victory like this, I suppose we can forgive you for lying to us all this time." Garrus said as he drank from his glass.

"Your people have done well. No battles with the Reapers in my cycle went as well as that." Javik said.

She had explained to the crew, as the battle raged on, about Elder Olnius' plan, about the training and planning her people had done. They were surprised to say the least. She was just relieved it had paid off.

"So what happens now?" Liara asked.

"My people will help the war effort any way they can. Fighting, evacuating colonies, healing." She shrugged. Then she found Shepard's eyes. "We are yours."

"Thank you." Shepard said smiling at her warmly.

"What about your own planet?" EDI asked.

"Fighting Reapers is more important. We'll just have to hope the Reapers don't attack Thendor again."


End file.
